


No Such Thing

by spacedust719



Series: My Favorite Person [1]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Angst, Eventual Smut, F/M, Flashback, Fluff, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, Very light smut, reconnecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-12-18 15:30:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 50,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18252674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedust719/pseuds/spacedust719
Summary: You meet back up with your high school boyfriend, Joe Mazzello, after about 16 years. Surely it’s not a completely terrible idea?





	1. Prolouge

“Line, is this crazy? Should I have come? I haven’t seen this man 2 years. That time barely even….’

“Y/N what happened to you? You stopped talking. Did you pass out?” Madeline joked to try and calm you down. “Y/n!? Are you actually okay?”

You knew you were on the set of a movie about Queen but you weren’t expecting this, you whisper into your phone, “I think I just saw Roger Taylor!” You hands were so sweaty with nerves you were afraid you would drop your phone.

“Y/N! Go after him! Forget your friend, you’re too nervous for that anyways. If not for yourself, grab Taylor for me.” This plea works in calming you down.

You start laughing, “Line! Isn’t he married? I’m not helping you break up a marriage. You can do that on your own.”

She scofs, “Who the fuck cares if he’s married? She’s probably hot. I can get down with being part of a throuple.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I found his trailer. I should knock.” You just stared at the sign reading “John Deacon” with “Joseph Mazzello” underneath it.

Line started hyping you up, “You are a badass bitch. You are accomplished and worldly. You’re way hotter than you were in high school. I love you and you were pretty when you came to live with us, but you’re a smoke show now. He liked you then. He’s going to cream his pants the second he sees you now.”

“Oh Line, I love you so much! I gotta hang up.” Your heart was doing a frantic dance in your chest. “This has to go better than when I knocked on his bedroom to say goodbye, right?”

“He invited you. I’m hanging up now. Call me right after if you get in his pants.” Line hung up on you just like she said she would. She was right. He invited you. It was highly unlikely he would invite you to shut the door in your face again. That was 16 years ago. Maybe he’s over it? You pretended to be. Right as you reach out your hand to knock, the door opens. You look up into the warm brown eyes of the first man you ever loved


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter takes place in May 2000. You are returning from being a foreign exchange student in France. You meet Joe for the first time.

You slowly walk through the airport. Your feet are dragging. Your flight was delayed 5 hours. All you can think about is showering. You look around your for parents. They seemed concerned about being able to make it when you called to say you’d be much later than planned. They were going to see your oldest brother’s baseball tournament. Surely that could only require one of them when their daughter hadn’t been home in 5 months. Just as you’ve convinced yourself one of them will be there and one will be at Ryan’s game, you see your friend Alexa holding a sign with your name on it. It’s your mother’s handwriting. Maybe she at least planned on holding it herself at some point. Alexa is a good second choice. She’s been your best friend since grade school. You won’t have to wait to tell her all the stories you and the daughter of your host family got up to. Some stories just need to be told in person and not over email. You feel a pep in your step now at the prospect of the fun ride home. You’re almost glad its her and not your parents. You run up to hug her.

“Alexa! Hi! I’ve missed you so much.” You extend your arms. She doesn’t reciprocate. Her face is completely passive. You drop your arms.

“Hi, Y/N. Do you have luggage?” Her smile looks fake.

You can’t help but laugh at her question. “I was in Montreuil for 5 months. I have a couple suitcases.”

“Grab a cart then.” She turned around and started walking to baggage claim. 

You jog to catch up to her, “Hey, I’m sorry my flight was delayed. I hope you weren’t waiting too long. I’m glad you came to pick me up. I’m so excited to see you. I can’t wait to hear what I missed. I have some good stories too.”

“I got here about 10 minutes ago.” She just looked blankly at you. It wasn’t until you raised your eyebrows at her that she added, “What are your stories?”

You really want to ask her what her problem is. Maybe she just had other plans today. You decide to tell her about your host family, mostly about the daughter Madeline that you instantly clicked with. Madeline felt like your sister now. You had an open invitation to return to stay with her family whenever you wanted. Alexa barely showed any interest in your stories. She answered a few questions, but it was mostly you that talked the whole ride home. She pulled up to your house. You parents moved houses while you were gone. This house was almost as foreign as the “friend” dropping you off. “Hey, do you want to come in? I’ve been talking so much. I still want to hear about everything that happened here.”

She fake smiles again, “I don’t really have anything to say I didn’t already email you.”

You’re pissed now. “I’ve been gone 5 months. You emailed me 4 times. All of those over 3 months ago. You really have nothing to say? You don’t want to hang out? Are you mad I left?”

She sighed, “I picked you up cause I like your parents. They called and ask. It helped they gave me gas money. Your new neighbor is watching the twins. His name is Joe.” She paused for a while before saying, “I just didn’t miss you like I thought I would”

You are too stunned to speak. That is possibly the rudest thing anyone has ever told you. Definitely the rudest thing someone you know has said to you.

“I popped the trunk for you” She looked forward as you glared in her direction. 

“Thanks, I hope that wasn’t too much effort. Sorry my return ruined your evening.” 

Your suitcases were ridiculously heavy. One had wheels luckily. You were barely able to carry the other to the garage. Thankfully you parents had sent you the garage door code a few days ago. It’s almost as though they planned on not being able to pick you up. You hope they actually missed you unlike your possibly former friend Alexa. You enter the new house through the garage, leaving the suitcases in the garage. The second you open the door, you hear screaming. You panic for a minute. There is laughter mixed in with the screams. Thank god. You did not have the emotional energy for your twin brothers being angry. You loved the little buggers and missed them like crazy. You were so ready for this day to be over though. 

You walk up the stairs to what appears to be the living room. The furniture is set up differently than the pictures your mom sent you. You get a warm tugging sensation in your chest when you see the “Welcome Home” banner on the fireplace. You’re almost ran over by both your brothers literally running into the room sliding on wood floor with their socks. You turn to face them. Right as you are about to chase them and hug them, you’re partly knocked over by someone else. There are arms wrapped around you.

A deep voice comes from above your right shoulder, “Shit! Sorry!” The arms release you so you can turn around. The voice goes with an adorable face and warm brown eyes. “Y/N?”

You can’t help but smile broadly at him.“Yeah, Joe?” You extend your hand.

He shakes it while blurting out, “Your pictures do not do you justice.”

You have to think about what that means for a second. “Is that a compliment?” You giggle a little at his facial reaction realizing his statement could be taken badly.

Joe stammers out, “I usually only can talk to girls on AOL instant messenger. I just mean. You DO take a good picture. Your smile. The way you start smiling...your eyes did this thing. The pictures don’t have that. It’s nice.”

You smile down at your feet. That was for sure a compliment. You look back up at him with hooded eyes, “then thanks.” Joe and you just stare at each other for a few seconds. This is broken up by your little brothers tackling you onto the couch. You start wrestling them into hugs. They giggle and run off, demanding Joe chase them again. Jackson yells back, “We were playing dinosaurs.”

Joe tells them to go hide. He sits on the couch with you. “Did you have any luggage?”

“Oh I left it in the garage. It’s my welcome home present for my dad,” you say with a grin on your face.

“I can get that for you if you want to unpack.” Joe offers.

“Maybe in a minute. How come I don’t know you? You look my age. I know we moved here recently, but we came from just across town.” He looks vaguely familiar. Maybe you have met.

“I go to Our Lady of Lourdes.”

“That’s why I don’t recognize you. You aren’t wearing your plaid skirt. I bet you look cute in it.” You decide you are going to like this new neighborhood.

“Oh I will have you know, I’d look damn sexy!”

From behind the couch, you hear two little voices repeating “damn sexy” over and over again. You look behind the couch. Your brothers run off screaming their new favorite phrase.

You whip your head back to Joe, “I’m definitely telling my parents that is your fault.”

“I’m blaming you! You’re the one that’s been in France. Haven’t you heard the phrase “pardon my French”?” Joe looked so smug. You pushed his shoulder back as you laughed at him. “Let’s go get your suitcase”

You grab the smaller of the two. Joe moans as he lifts your large suitcase. “Did you bring home French bricks with you? Or just steal the Mona Lisa?”

You throw your head back with laughter as you almost drop the smaller bag on the stairs, “you know that’s really small, right? I actually stole the “Winged Victory” statue. I cut it up into pieces so it would fit in my bag. I’m going to super glue it back together in my room.”

“That’s a great idea. I’m sure it will look exactly the same as before.” Joe huffs and puts your bag down at the top of the stairs. 

Jackson and Aiden are waiting with their hands on their hips staring at Joe. 

“If the hall had terrible carpeting, this would almost look like “The Shining”.” Joe looks down to where you are a few steps below him. 

You yawn, “I’ve never actually seen that.”

Joe stars at you in disgust, “the second you get over your jet lag, We are watching that” 

You are about to tell him you refuse to watch scary movies when your brothers yell “JOE!!!! Be the T Rex again!”

You offer, “you can leave. I can watch them. It’s my biological responsibility.” You yawn again. Despite the sun not having set, it’s about midnight to you.

“Your parents already paid me. They figured you’d go hang out with your friends and wouldn’t be back until late.”

You start ranting to him before you can stop yourself, “yeah… I thought I would be too when I saw Alexa at the airport instead of my parents. She told me she didn’t really have anything to say to me. It’s been 5 months. We’ve been best friends for 13 years. We’ve never NOT had anything to say to each other. She didn’t even seem interested in any of my stories. How does my best friend not have anything to say or care what I’m saying after not seeing me for 5 months?”

Your 8 year old brothers surprisingly have the answer, “We saw her at the pool last week when Ryan took us. She stole your boyfriend.” Aiden says nonchalantly.

Jackson chimes in, “They were SO GROSS. They were putting their tongues in each other’s mouths. He’s a lifeguard. Someone could have drown.” 

Tears are filling your eyes but haven’t spilled yet, “That would make it awkward for her to pick me up.”

Joe puts a hand on your shoulder. “I will be right back.” He bolts out the front door. You think to yourself he must be one of those guys that are freaked out by girls crying. Your little twin brothers are not. 

Aiden starts trying to crawl up you and asks, “Will you play dinosaurs with us when you stop crying?” You push your suitcase to the side so it’s not blocking the stairs. “Sure guys. Let me just grab a tissue first.”

Five minutes later, Joe is coming back in the door with what appears to be a grocery bag. You have picked up where he left off chasing your brothers. Joe walks into the kitchen and calls your brothers. He is pulling ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream from the bag. “I went shopping at my house. Where do you keep the spoons?”

You shrug, “I don’t know. You’ve been in this house more than me.” Jackson pulls open the correct drawer. Joe sets them up with their sugar fest then motions for you to go back in the living room. He sits down on the couch. “Do you want to tell me about your trip? I am actually curious about it. I promise I haven’t kissed any lifeguards.”

You shake your head at him and sit down facing him. You tell him basics at first. He seems genuinely interested in the stories. It makes you more excited to tell them. You can’t help but smile back when he laughs at your and Madeline’s antics. You are about to start telling him about her attempts to make you look less American when your brothers come back into the living room. They are now even more wound up after all the sugar.

Joe assess their behavior, “I should probably make them run laps around the backyard to work off all the sugar.”

You laugh at Jackson’s attempt to break dance on the rug. “Yeah, their bedtime was half an hour ago.” At this Aiden comes up to you and squishes your face between his hands, “our bedtime moved back 30 minutes when we finished 2nd grade.”

”OOHHHH so sorry!! Your bedtime is now then.” You give your biggest yawn yet. “My bedtime is also now. Are you sure you’re good to watch them?” Joe nods. “Awesome! It was really nice meeting you. I’m off to find my room.” You get up and shuffle to the hall. Joe calls your name so you turn around.

”I’ll wind them down so they don’t keep you up. Also, so you parents don’t kill me and allow me back in the house. I know you don’t know me, but I’m right next door if you want to talk. I’d also like to hear more stores from your trip. See pictures when you have some.”

You smile at him. This makes you think about his assessment of your smile earlier and it gets bigger, “I’d like that. Good night.”


	3. Chapter 3

You’ve been back home for a few days. You are sitting against a tree reading in your backyard as your 3 brothers run around. They seem to know what they are playing but to you it just seems like they are chasing and punching each other. You call off the oldest, Ryan, when he’s being too rough with Jackson and Aiden. He has 7 years, and now close to 2 feet on them. He sprouted like a bean pole while you were gone. Suddenly, there is another older boy running in the backyard. You are about to stand up when you realize the boys all know each other. You look up and see Joe walking up to the other side of the low fence. He waves at you and you get up to meet him. “That’s my brother John. You had some stranger danger in your eyes.”

You chuckle at him, “It was a lot easier to protect my brother when he wasn’t taller than me. They are all growing up too fast. I missed a lot the last few months”

“Speaking of missing, I haven’t seen you in a few days. Have you been asleep this whole time?”

“Yes. The sunlight hurts my eyes now. That’s why I was in the shade” You smile up at him, “Actually jet lag is only partly responsible. I volunteer at the Humane Society. They were nice enough to hold my spot. Gotta pad the college applications.”

“How are you doing with the boyfriend cheating thing?” Joe asks.

You are touched by the seeming genuine concern in his voice. “Oh, it pretty much sucks. I can feel some trust issues building. I think losing my best friend hurts more though.”

Joe cheerfully, “I’ll be your best friend.”

You laugh at this, “Oh yeah? Just like that, we’re best friends now?”

Joe says like it's incredibly obvious, “Yeah. Since we are best friends, I should know some things about you. What colleges are you padding the applications for?”

“It’s always been my plan to go to college overseas, specifically Paris. I should  _ probably double check _ my parents are still good with that. The Sorbonne has a program I want to try for. What about you? You got any plans for next year?”

He throws a twig that was stuck in the fence at his younger brother before telling you, “I am actually applying at USC School of Cinematic Arts.”

“Wow, that sounds impressive. Do you want to direct? Or write? Is that a pretty competitive program? I would guess so with it being in California.”

“I want to direct. I’ve gotten to witness some great directors. I’d love to be half as good as them. I think I have a pretty good recommendation lined up. If I make a film this summer just around here, will you play a French person in it? Please? That would be awesome.” His enthusiasm is very endearing and contagious.

“Show me the script and I’ll think about it,” you poke him in the chest. “Who do you have a recommendation from? Have you gone down to the city to do acting or anything?”

He looks shy and laughs gently at your question. He kind of mumbles something you don’t hear. He says with a completely straight face, “Steven Spielberg.”

You laugh but he doesn’t laugh back. You realize he’s serious. “How the hell do you know Steven Spielberg?”

The shy expression returns and he hesitantly asks, “Have you seen Jurassic Park?” 

You point at your dinosaur obsessed brothers, “you’ve met them right. How could I not have watched it?”

“I played Tim”

You pinched the bridge of your nose. You finally placed his face. “I KNEW I recognised you! I thought it was just from around town! So sorry!”

He shrugs, “It’s fine. Your brothers know. They spent most of the other day asking me about it. I’m surprised they didn’t tell you.”

You think about other movies you’ve seen him in. “You know I like Jurassic Park, but I prefer Simon Birch. My mom and I cried so hard at that. Did you get to keep the armadillo?” 

Instead of answering, he climbs over the fence. More so he attempts to. His shoelace get stuck on the chainlink and removes his shoe. This makes you laugh really hard for some reason. The gate is about 3 feet away. This could have easily been avoided. 

“Y/N!! Can we all go to the pool? Mom said you’d take us.” Jackson yells at you.

You face instantly falls at this question. You love the pool. You do not love the idea of running into you ex boyfriend, or ex best friend, or worse- both of them and their tongues. 

Joe notices, “Hey, Y/N. Do you want John and I to go with? Safety in numbers?”

“Yes, please.” This idea comforts you. “My mom doesn’t know what happened. I haven’t felt like telling her yet.”

“Well, your car or mine?” Joe smiles at you while putting his shoe back on.

“Oh my mom took my car. We are going soccer mom style. I have the van!”

 

When your dad gets home, your brothers, the Mazzello boys, and you are having a water balloon fight in the driveway. You all pause so your dad can make it to safety in the garage. He motions for you to come over. “I thought your mom told me you were taking the boys to the pool today.”

You take a deep breath. “I did. We were there for 5 minutes and got kicked out.”

“WHAT? What happened?” Your dad looks concerned and angry.

Ryan drops his balloon and runs over, “Dad, it’s my fault. I saw Greg and I had to kick that asshole for hurting Y/N.”

Joe intercedes, “Sir, I tried stopping it but wasn’t fast enough.”

Your dad turns to you, “What happened with you and Greg? I know we haven’t seen him but I thought you were both just busy.”

”He and Alexa comforted each other in my absence. You won’t be seeing her either. They will only be seeing each other.” Your dad hugs you tightly.

”You did the right thing, Ryan.” Your dad looks around at everyone in the driveway and asks you, “How often do you guys usually go to the pool in the summer, few times a week? Seems to be 6 of you now.” He mumbles stuff to himself like he’s thinking barely out loud. “Put on some dry clothes. Let’s go get one of those large above ground pools you can set up yourself. Should be the same price by the end of the summer. Joe, John, can you come to the store too and help carry? We can pick up pizza on the way home.”

Your dad may prioritize your brother’s sports sometimes. He may have completely different interests but right now you realized that didn’t mean he didn’t have your best interest in mind. He had convinced your mom to let you leave the country for 5 months. You gave him a giant hug and heard your brothers inside to change.

 

The next day, you take Jacks and Aiden to watch Ryan’s baseball game. You didn’t realize till you saw Joe sitting in the stands that John was on the same team as Ryan. Joe was also wearing a baseball jersey and pants. You point as his uniform as you guys sit down next to him. “My game is next. I came early to watch.”

”Y/N, can we stay and watch Joe?”Jaks begged followed by Aiden, “pleeeeeeeaaaseeeeeeee?” 

You ruffle Aiden’s hair since he’s next to you, “If Ryan is up for it, we’ll stay.” You turn to Joe. He looks thrilled at the prospect of you staying. Joe and you talk basically the whole game, occasionally pausing to cheer for your brothers.

After their game, Ryan and John grab food and join you in the stands. Joe is now warming up out in the field. You try not to stare in front of your brothers and his, but he looks really good in the uniform. Ryan suddenly stands in front of you, “Can we go home?”

”No, the game hasn’t even started. What’s wrong with you?” 

He motions towards the other team. You had been too occupied in entertaining your brothers between games to notice Greg was playing on the opposing team. You suddenly feel like you at being watched. You see Alexa and your other friend Beth in the other stands. They were watching you and whispering to each other. “Ryan, it’s fine. Let's just cheer for Joe even more now.” 

Ryan and John start whispering in front of you. John walks up to the fence. He gets Joe’s attention. They talk for a  minute. You turn to start talking to Jacks and Aiden so you can turn your head away from the other team and their fans. John sits back down in front of you. 

Joe is now calling you down to the fence. He points to section of the fence that’s lower. You walk over to join him.

“John told me who’s here. You can go. I won’t be offended,” reassured Joe.

You rest your arms on top of the fence ”I am not going anywhere. I want to watch you play. Plus, I just got popcorn. Can’t waste that.”

Joe makes really intense eye contact. You suddenly don’t hear the rest of the crowd. It’s like it’s only you and Joe. He rests his hand at the nape of your neck, “Can I do something?” His hand moves up your neck so his thumb is brushing your jaw. You nod slightly maintaining eye contact. His eyes drop to your lips. You watch his lips approach yours. His thumb moves so he can slightly tilt your head with it. You close your eyes. Joe lightly kisses you with barely parted lips. You kiss him back. His hand moves to the back of your neck. He kisses you again, slightly deeper a few more times. When he pulls away, you gasp slightly and open your eyes. You match the wide smile on his face. 

There is cheering from both of your brothers in the stands. This greatly embarrasses you. 

“If I get a home run, can I do that again?” Joe asks.

“Sure, but you gotta get the home run.”

Joe winks at you and runs back to his teammates.


	4. Chapter 4

Joe doesn’t make a home run during his game and never brings up the kiss in conversation.You’re too nervous to bring it up. You really like him but are too scared he doesn’t like you back to ask him. Every once and awhile when you’re together, you see his eyes flicker to your lips. Most of the time, one or all of both your brothers are there. That’s how most of the next month goes. All 6 of you have become a pack wandering around town. On the days that you are at the Humane Society, Joe usually comes in to visit. Sometimes he brings your youngest brothers to play with the animals. One time, it was just him that came and he hid under the counter while your boss stood unknowingly on the customer side giving you instructions before she left for the day. Joe found a pen on the ground and drew a lovely nature scene on your leg. He’d walk around with you and hold the cats while you cleaned their cages. He tries convincing you to name every new animal that comes in “Joe”. You scream at him one day when he comes in and tries to hug you. He’s hurt until you show him you have a cat hidden in your hoodie. It’s your favorite cat Pancakes. No one ever adopts her because she’s 5 and has one eye.You would take her home in a second if your dad wasn’t allergic.

Most nights, Joe and you end up watching movies in the tree house in your backyard. Your brothers somehow managed to bring an old TV with a built-in VCR up the ladder. It takes about 3 weeks, but Joe finally manages to convince you to watch The Shining. When he can tell you’re getting scared, he grabs your hand in both of his. During the scene with the bathtub, you bury your face in his chest. He finds this hilarious and endearing. You are annoyed with him laughing at you until he rests one his hands on the back of you head. When the movie is over he asks, “What did you think? It’s so good, right?”

Unsure you say, “Maybe? I know I don’t trust the twins anymore!”

He straight up cackles at that. “Aww, do you want to watch another movie or do you want to go in your house. The twins are in there waiting for you.”

“I hate you so much right now! What else do you have up here?”

“Umm, I’ll have to go grab something from inside. Any preferences? Psycho perhaps?” He finds himself hilarious. 

You clutch onto his arm preventing him from getting up and leaving “Don’t leave me up here alone! I’ll get murdered!” You are only slightly aware you’re being ridiculous. 

He lays down on the pile of every old pillow and blanket from both of your houses. “Then let’s talk about what every adult asks us every day since we are quickly approaching our senior year. What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

You sigh and throw yourself face down into the pillows, “ugh, I have to get straight A’s this year, probably A+’s, if I even want a chance of making my dreams happen. I want to be an interpreter internationally. What about you?”

Joe thinks for a while, “I’d like to have directed at least one short film ten years from now. Hopefully more. I still have you on standby for any roles requiring French.” He nudges your foot with his when he says this. “Do you think you will be or even want to be married by then?”

You scrunch up your face at that question. “I don’t know if that is something you should plan for. I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment. I would like to at least be with the person I marry by then. If not, I’ll just adopt every stray animal I find. What about you?” You feel his pinky finger up against yours.

“I can’t adopt every stray I find. I want to live in New York City. There isn’t enough room.”

“You’re so funny, Joseph. Answer the question!” 

“I think I’ll know the person. I just hope she’s nearby. Same town would be convenient.” Joe has shifted positions slightly so his forearm is barely touching yours. You think you feel him looking at you. He can’t possibly mean you. He’s known you a month. You’re both still kids. Sure he kissed you and it was fantastic, but nothing since then. If he meant you, wouldn’t he have tried again? He’s been alone with you in this treehouse most nights since the kiss. You bite your lip and are about to look at him. Suddenly there is a loud noise nearby. You scream because you’re still slightly on edge from the movie.

“Calm down, Y/N. You’re going to wake the whole street up!” He sits up to look out the window. “It’s just the guy across the street from you getting dropped off. No ax murders.” He lays back down. Your heart rate starts to return to normal. Or at least as normal as it can be when you’re around Joe. 

“Y/N. I now have the most serious question of them all.” Joe says in a grave voice. You look over at him hesitantly. “If in 10 years, if you had to pick one food item for your house to be made out of, what would it be?”

This is not at all what you were expecting him to ask. “Maybe crackers? They don’t really mold. They just get harder. They could make decent building material. What’s your house made of”  
“Cheese” is all he gives for an answer.

“That’s a terrible choice! Any cheese is going to smell eventually. You’re lactose intolerant!” 

“That’s why is a great choice! I won’t be as tempted to eat my house.” he reasons. Joe continues to ask you ridiculous questions and argue with you over the answers until you both fall asleep in the treehouse. You wake up facing Joe. You started holding hands sometime in the night. This makes you smile. You watch Joe sleep for a minute. He looks so sweet and peaceful like this. His eyes flutter open. “Stop watching me sleep you weirdo.”

“Oh it’s been 30 seconds. I was admiring how calm you are sleeping. I’ve never seen you not talking before.”

He sticks his tongue out at you. “I need to sneak back into my house before my parents wake up. They may cancel movie nights if they know I slept out here with you.” He groans and stands up. “There are not enough blankets out here to sleep all night”

 

You do get caught right away when you try and sneak back in. Your mom is in the kitchen making coffee before work.

“Good morning, Y/N” She had a jovial tone but you are 100% sure she saw both Joe and you leave the treehouse.

You yawn and sit at the counter. “Hi mom.”

“Have they given you the sex ed talk at school? I know they probably haven’t at Joe’s school.” It’s way too early in the morning for this. 

“MOM!”

“What? Aiden told me he saw you and Joe kiss weeks ago. Do I need to make you an appointment to get birth control or are you still just at the kissing stage?

You bury your face in you hands. “There is nothing happening. He held my hand watching The Shining. Do I need birth control for that?” You take down your hands. Your dad is now in the kitchen. He looks between you and your mom, then immediately leaves the kitchen. 

Your mom cracks up. “Honey, it’s obvious you guys like each other. If anything does start to happen, just know you can tell me. I’ll answer any questions you have.”

“Thanks, mom.” You consider asking her if he was talking about you last night when discussing marriage. Instead you just tell her about him kissing you, “He did kiss me weeks ago at his baseball game. I think it was just because Greg and Alexa where there. He hasn’t even tried since. I don’t think he likes me that way.”

Your mom looked like she really wanted to roll her eyes at you. “Just kiss him if you want to. The boy helps you clean litter boxes. He has spent every day of his summer with you and your brothers. He’ll kiss you back. Also, don’t have sex in the treehouse! That will be uncomfortable and terrible.”

Your dad yells from their bedroom, “Don’t have sex anywhere! Ever! Just adopt our grandchildren”

You bury your face again. “I am not having sex! Please stop talking about it!”

************

A couple days later you come home from the Humane Society feeling a mixture of happy and sad. Your favorite cat Pancakes got adopted. You were glad she had a home now, but jealous that someone else gets to have her. When you got home you went straight to your room ready to throw yourself on the bed. There is a bag of stuff your mom got you at the store. There is new shampoo, tampons, and a box of condoms. She finds herself so funny. There is a post-it on the condoms that says “not in the tree house”. You take the shampoo and tampons to the bathroom leaving the condoms on your dresser because you didn’t know what else to do with them.

When you come back to your room, Joe is in there staring at the condoms. He looks more scared than you did watching The Shining. “You ok, Joe?”

He jumps when you speak. “Why do you have these?”

You laugh because he doesn’t know your moms sense of humor well enough yet. “My mom saw us leaving the tree house the other morning. She thinks she’s hilarious. She advised me that the treehouse would be uncomfortable and terrible to have sex in.”

Joe turns around and is BRIGHT red. His face coloring practically matches his hair. He opens his mouth like he’s about to say something for about 20 seconds before anything comes out. You just watch him and patiently wait for him to speak. “Did....we… didn’t… Did she tell my parents?”

You want to tease him so bad but he looks embarrassed enough. “Not to my knowledge. I also told her nothing happened that night or any other night.” You pause before adding, “Aiden told her we kissed once.”

“That wasn’t in the treehouse.”

He is so adorable when he’s embarrassed. “She knows that. Dad too. What did you come over for? I think dinner is almost ready. Do you want to stay?”

Joe is slowly returning to his normal pallor, “I don’t think I can be around your parents right now. I was going to go rent some movies. Do you have any preferences?”

“Whatever you choose is fine. You’re pickier than I am. Do you want me to call when we are done eating? Or just meet out there about 8?”

“8 sounds good.” He continues to just stand there.

You think you know why so you ask him, “Want me to check that my parents aren’t in the living room before you leave?”’

“Please”

 

You’re in your room grabbing a sweatshirt to go meet Joe when your mom comes in the room. She leans against your desk and looks at you knowingly.  
“You going to the treehouse again?”

You turn around to answer her, “Yeah. I’m just getting a sweatshirt in case it gets cold.”

“Don’t tell your dad I encouraged this, but if you want to sleep out there again you can take a sleeping bag from the basement.” She looks out into the hall to check for your dad. “Are you going to kiss Joe tonight? Brush your teeth before you go out there.”

You stare at your feet, “What if he doesn’t want me to kiss him?”

“Then he’s an idiot. Go brush your teeth. I’ll grab you the sleeping bag.”

 

When you climb into the treehouse, Joe is already there with a stack of 3 movies, popcorn, and a basket covered with a towel for some reason. “Why do you have a sleeping bag?”  
“You complained that there wasn’t enough blankets the other day. Why do you have a basket?”

Joe gets a huge smile on his face. “I wanted to show you what my mom and I got this morning. She lost hers before Christmas. We just got around to replacing it.”

You are confused. “She lost a basket. How does that even happen?”

Joe snickers, “Look inside the basket, dork.”

You look in the basket and your jaw drops. “YOU GUYS adopted Pancakes?” You take the white and orange cat from the basket. She’s purring like crazy.

“Yeah, my mom and I went in. Pancakes was pawing at the door when we walked by. My mom got her out. She fell asleep in my mom’s lap while my mom was petting her. Our last cat did that all the time. There was no chance Pancakes wasn’t coming home with us. My mom has agreed to give you visitation rights.”

“You guys are the best! Thank you for giving her a home. I was so jealous someone else got to bring her home. She really is the sweetest cat.” You return Pancakes to the basket. You look over at Joe. You decide to take your mother’s advice. You crawl over to where he is sitting. You sit on the heels of your feet next to him, but stay facing him. You pause before deciding to do the same thing he did to you. You put your hand on the base of his neck, “Can I do something?” He doesn’t answer verbally. He just leans forward and kisses you. It is better than the first time. He parts his lips and brushes his tongue against your lips to request entrance. Your tongue meets his halfway. After a few minutes of this, you move one leg over his so you are now straddling him and wrap your arms around his neck. He wraps one arm around your waist and the other around your shoulder. His hand is on the back of your neck. Your kissing intensifies quickly. His hands are under the back of your sweatshirt now. One of them slides down your back under the waistband of your shorts. You push back from him and remove your sweatshirt. He leans forward to pull you back to him. He rolls you over so you are now under him in the pile of pillows. You grab the neck of his shirt and pull him down to you. 

All of a sudden you hear someone at the bottom of the ladder. It’s John, “Joe! Um, you sound busy but your manager is on the phone. Mom asked me to come get you. She said to bring the cat too.”

Joe sits up and begs, “Please stay here. I will be back as soon as I can. Don’t move.” He kisses you again quick before leaving. You hand the basket containing Pancakes down to him. 

After half an hour, you push all the blankets and pillows to the side. You spread out the sleeping bag and then rearrange all the other bedding on top of it. It’s much more comfortable. After an hour of waiting, you decide to go inside. As you’re almost to the door, Joe comes back outside.

“Y/N! I’m so sorry that took so long. I have great news!” Joe runs up to his side of the fence. You meet him on your side. He leans over and kisses you again. “I auditioned for a movie over spring break and just heard back that I got it!”

“Joe! That’s so great! Congratulations!” You stand on your tiptoes so you can reach to kiss him again. “Come around the fence. Let’s go back in the tree house. You can tell me about the movie.”

His face falls. “I can’t. I am really sorry about this. I have to pack. I leave tomorrow morning for L.A. I’ll be gone two months. I should be back just in time for school to start.”

You step back barely from the fence. “You’re leaving?”

He reaches and pulls you back. He hugs you over the top of the fence. “I’m coming back. I can call you. I won’t be working too long of hours since I’m still 17. I should have asked you this before but will you be my girlfriend?” He has the sweetest expression on his face. 

You really want to say yes. Something else comes out instead, “I don’t know if I’m ready to do long distance again.”

Joe’s face went dark and he pulls away from you. He starts backing away from the fence, “Ok, I’ll see you when I get back. I need to pack.”

“Joe! Come back. Can we just talk for a minute?” Before you can get around the fence, he’s inside his house. The light for the back door turns off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place around September 2000

Joe had been back for about 24 hours and had yet to see you. Right now he was standing at his kitchen sink. He could see you sitting under the treehouse tree reading a book. He thought back fondly to the beginning of summer when he saw you in that same position the second time he ever saw you in person. It was before he screwed things up. He instantly regretted how he reacted to you before he left. You hadn’t actual said you didn’t want to be his girlfriend. It just felt like rejection. It was like you didn’t trust him. It stung and he punished you for it. He was too ashamed to call you while he was gone. He was happy while filming but the second he was done he was miserable. He missed talking to you about everything and nothing. He knew every minute he didn’t go see you he was just making it worse. He was still stuck. Unable to move from his spot watching you. He thought to himself how creepy he was being just staring at you.

“She knows we’re home from picking you up. John is in her basement. Go out and talk to her.” Joe’s mom advised him. Joe didn’t know his mom had entered the kitchen.

“Mom, I was so mean to her. I didn’t even return her phone call on her birthday. I doubt she wants to talk to me.” Joe told her sadly.

“She told you she wasn’t ready for long distance. You can’t blame the girl. Her mom told me what happened while she was in France. That’s something that takes more than a month to get over.” She pats her son on the back. “I didn’t see any other boys come around while you were gone. Pretty girl like that, doesn’t make sense. Unless she was waiting for you. You still have her birthday present. Go take it to her.”

Joe turns to ask his mom, “What if I ask her again and she says no?”

“She could also say yes. Even if you don’t ask her out, go be her friend again.”

Joe went downstairs to go out to his backyard so he could apologize, or try to. Maybe he would just start by saying hi. By the time he got out there, you were gone. 

*************

The next night Joe is sitting in the driveway with his dad and John listening to a Yankees game on the radio. He sees your car drive up and park on the street in front of your house. He suddenly gets tense. Joe’s dad and John make up excuses of why they suddenly have to go inside when your car door opens. You haven’t noticed him yet, you’re getting something out of your backseat. By the time you reach the front of your car you see Joe and stop. Joe is unable to make out your facial expression. You drop your bag on the hood of your car. Joe stands to come greet you, for better or worse. As soon as the street light hits your face, he sees that you’re smiling. You look gorgeous, better than the mental picture he had of you. He notices you’re wearing a cheerleading outfit. When the hell did that happen? He gets distracted by this and doesn’t realize how close you are. He is so thankful when you jump and hug him. He happily squeezes you and spins you around once. The second he puts you down, you shove him.

”What the hell, Mazzello? Why didn’t you call me?” You look angry now. This is more what he expected.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. That was a dick move. It was your birthday too.” 

“I didn’t mean that. I was mad. Until I saw your stupid face again. Why didn’t you call me when you got back? I saw your brother yesterday.”

“I thought you’d be pissed and I was scared to face you.” Joe reached out to touch you. You shifted your weight to your other foot so Joe didn’t make contact with your arm. He couldn’t tell if you did it on purpose or not.

“I wasn’t really pissed, more hurt. Now that you’re here,” you paused for a while and looked at the ground, “I just want my friend back. I’ll forget you were a dick if you forget I didn’t try to call you till the third week you were gone.”

Joe didn’t think he’d get this good of a deal. He figured you wouldn’t want to talk to him again. “I can do that. Since we are friends, can you explain what you’re wearing? You look pretty.” The last part was so quiet he didn’t think you’d hear him.

“What was that last part?” You were glaring at him.

“I said you look shitty.” Joe really hoped you realized he was joking.

He can tell you’re holding back laughter. You give in and laughed really hard, “I look better than you! It’s more application padding. I’ve done it since 6th grade except for last year since I was gone half the year. What are you doing tonight?”

He didn’t think he heard you right. Did you actually want to hang out with him? “I was listening to the game. It’s almost over. What are you doing?”

“I am going to change. Then nothing. Do you want to watch a movie in the treehouse? It’s going to be too cold to do it soon. Plus we’ll have school next week.”

“Can I bring you your birthday present?” He brought it for you before he left. His original plan was to give it to you on your birthday and use that opportunity to ask you out. 

“Is it something from LA?” You looked skeptical.

“No. I bought it here before I left.”

“I will accept it then. Ten minutes. You’re bringing the movie by the way” You turned on your heel, grabbed your bag, and walked into your house. Joe didn’t know if it was the skirt or how you were walking, but he couldn’t help but watch you leave. He hoped he would get to see you in the cheerleading outfit again. 

*************

 

“Mom!!!” You yelled the second the front door was closed behind you and Joe couldn’t hear you.

“I’m in the kitchen,” she hollered back.

You found her making cookies for Ryan’s baseball game tomorrow. “Mom, I just saw Joe. Ugh, he’s still cute. I hoped he had turned ugly while he was gone. We’re going to watch a movie. He said he has a birthday present for me.”

Your mom laughed under her breath. “What happened to giving him a piece of your mind? Wasn’t that the plan?”

You grimaced, “I already told you. He’s still cute. The second I saw him I just wanted to kiss him and forgot all my good arguments.”

“That will help someday when you’re married, honey. It helps your father get out of trouble all the time.”

You laid your head on the kitchen counter. “That is not helpful right now.”

Your mom stroked your hair, “How about this, go put on your green sweater, it’s a good color on you, and your jeans we bought last week. Come back and I’ll give you some cookies to take out there. I’ll also tell your dad you’re in the treehouse alone. He is still mad at Joe for making you cry.”

“Thanks mom” You left the kitchen to change.

Your mom yelled after you, “Brush your teeth in case he’s cute in the treehouse too.”

 

When you climb into the treehouse, Joe is already there like usual with a selection of movies and popcorn. This time he also has two wrapped boxes. You hand him the cookies from your mom. You sat next to him in the collection of pillows.

“Thank you. I brought a few movies to pick between.” He handed you the larger of the two presents.

You looked up and smiled at him. Unfortunately, he was still cute in the treehouse. You looked back at the present so you didn’t focus on his face. It was the movie Psycho. “Is this a joke?”

Joe gave you a really awkward smile like he knew you wouldn’t like the movie. “In my defense, this would have been funny before I left.”

You shake your head at him and hold your hand out for the other gift. It’s a much smaller box. When you get the wrapping off you realize it’s a jewelry box. You glance over at him.

“This also would have gone over better if I hadn’t left. Open it”

You do as he says. It’s a small pair of stud ruby earrings, your birthstone. They are perfect. You don’t know what you say. They seem like a girlfriend gift. He got them before he knew he was leaving. You wonder if that was his original intention. You lean over and put your head on his shoulder instead of saying anything.

He kisses the top of your head, “I’m sorry they are belated.”

You close your eyes. You really want to kiss him. Instead you just say, “Thank you. They are beautiful.”

“As your third present, I won’t make you watch Psycho.”

You laugh and look up at him, “I did miss you.”

Joe kisses your forehead. “I missed you too. A lot” Joe just gazes down at you. Those warm brown eyes are drawing your right back in. Joe’s eyes flicker down to your lips for a second. You lift your head from his shoulder instead of kissing him like you want to.

“Joe, can we just talk instead of watching a movie?”

“Do you stand by your answer of living in a house of crackers?” He lays down on all the blankets.

“It’s still a much better option than a house of cheese. Do you stand by that?” You open the earring box again, take out the earrings, and put them in your ears. You lay down next to him.

“I’ve thought about this a lot. I think I’m going to change my answer. I realized you are correct. That house would smell. I am going to go with a house made out of pretzel rods. It would be like building a log cabin. You’re going to be begging to come live in my pretzel house when your flimsy cracker house falls down in a light breeze.”

“Did it hurt admitting I was right?” You poke him in the side. He grabs your hand to stop you. He places your hand back on the blanket. When he lets go, you reach for his hand back and hold it. 

Joe squeezes your hand, “It did hurt. I think I’ll survive. Just don’t get used to it.”

Joe and you keep talking, asking each other ridiculous questions, and arguing like you spent no time apart. When you start yawning, he asks if you want to go inside. “Can we just stay out here and sleep? We can play a movie so we can say we fell asleep while watching it.”

Joe responds by putting in The Breakfast Club. He lays down next to you and pulls a blanket over you both.

You wake up holding hands again. This time Joe was watching you sleep. 

Joe smiles at you, “You look shitty. I gotta sneak in before I get grounded.” He kisses you on the cheek before leaving the treehouse. You go back to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place fall 2000 during Joe and reader’s senior year of high school

Senior year starts and you’re busy right away. Between school, cheerleading, student counsel, and volunteering, you feel like you are never home. If you are home, you’re doing homework. The first Saturday after school starts you’re excited to sleep in, but your boss at the Humane Society called you and asked you to come in. The lady that was supposed to work the front desk has a sick daughter. Apparently no one felt like adopting any pets, it had been an hour and no one had shown up. This was extremely rare for a Saturday. You had planned on seeing if Joe could hang out. You had only seen him once that whole week. It was for 5 minutes in the driveway when you were both on your way to school Thursday morning. You had snuck away from the desk to bring a kitten out to entertain you. It was currently chewing on your pen cap. You were too busy watching him that you didn’t notice the front door open. Someone started talking using a thick southern accent.

“Um yes, I would like to see the largest animal you have. My horse is too tired after riding all the way up here from Georgia.” It was Joe. His accent needed work.

“I’m sorry sir, we are out of all our large animals. I can offer you 35 cats to pull a carriage. Would that suffice?”

“That should do quite nicely.” Joe smiled at you through the glass. “Your mom said you were here. Can I come back?”

You buzzed him through the door to the employee area. He brought his homework with him. His English class was reading Hamlet. In between helping people that came in, you read lines with him. He was doing Hamlet’s soliloquy using the kitten instead of a skull. 

“You should do that for your next audition. Specifically with the kitten,” you tell him when he’s finished. 

“If I put it on tape with me doing Hamlet’s lines to Pancakes’ Ophelia, could you do the voice for Pancakes?”

“Of course, that sounds like a great plan.” You find his goofiness far too endearing. 

 

Joe starts coming over to do his homework with you a lot of nights. There have been occasions when you get home late and he’s already at the kitchen table with your brother, both of them doing their homework. On the nights your brother isn’t at the table with you guys, Joe kisses you cheek when he leaves for the night. Your mom sees him do this one night.   
She sits across the table from you, “Are you and Joe boyfriend and girlfriend yet?”

This question frustrates you because you keep waiting for Joe to ask you again. “No, mom. We are not.”

“Have you kissed since he’s been home?”

“Again, no.” You close your history book because you sense she won’t stop asking questions anytime soon.

“Why don’t you ask him to the homecoming dance you’re planning?”

“That isn’t really a dance as much as 600 sweaty teenagers bumping against each other in the cafeteria after a football game. I don’t actual intend on going. I am just hiring a DJ and asking teachers to chaperone.” You’d much rather hang out with Joe one on one.

“Did you get him a birthday present yet?”

“I haven’t gotten him anything. I can’t think of anything good enough. Maybe I’ll agree to watch Psycho with him finally. How do you know when his birthday is?” You wonder if a gift will be as meaningful if your mom comes up with it. You decide not to directly ask her for ideas. Nothing you could think of would be equal to the earrings he got you.

“His mom told me Sunday when your dad and I were outside pulling weeds. She asked if you could come to his birthday dinner next Thursday. She wanted to make sure you weren’t busy before Joe asked you and was disappointed you couldn’t come. I called Linda at the Humane Society to make sure she didn’t schedule you that day.” Your mom had a smug smile on her face.  
It was your turn to ask questions, “how often do you guys talk about us?”

“Not that often. We did discuss how it would be nice if you two got married one day. It would make holidays with grandchildren a lot easier.”

“MOM! We’ve kissed twice! He’s not even 18 for another week. We aren’t getting married.”

She simply says, “Yet” before getting up from the table. You decide to finish your homework in your room.

************

The Saturday after Joe’s 18th birthday you go over to his house at 7 am. You had finally come up with the best plan for his birthday. His mom readily agreed when you asked if you could kidnap him for the day. She answered the door when you came over.

She warned you before you knocked on his bedroom door, “He’s usually cranky in the morning.”

You smiled at her. It probably looked like just a friendly gesture, but really it was because her telling you that must mean she doesn’t know Joe has slept in the treehouse with you numerous times including last weekend. You knock on the door. No response. You knock harder.

“Go away. It’s Saturday.”

“Get up! We have to go get your birthday present. We leave the train station in an hour. I can smell you from the otherside of th…”

Joe opens the door before you can finish your sentence. “What’s my birthday present?” His hair is pointing about 8 different directions.

“Go shower so we can leave to go get it. You can sleep more on the train” You smile at him. While Joe is showering, you help his dad make some breakfast. Joe still looks half asleep when he comes out to the kitchen. His dad slips you an envelope before you get up to leave.

Joe tries to grab it from you “What is that?”

You giggle and tell him, “It’s none of your business right now.”

His dad says, “It’s part of your birthday present from your mom and I. The rest is from Y/N”

Joe looks at you, “You teamed up with my parents to get me a gift?”

“Kind of. It will make sense later.” You grab his hand a pull him to the door.

“Have fun kids! Be safe.” His dad tells you as you leave.

 

Joe gets really excited when you get to the train station and he finds out you guys are going into the city. It’s a little over a 2 hour ride. You fall asleep with your head on Joe’s shoulder. Your cousin gave you directions to your first destination. Joe steals them and is frustrated when they give no clue to your plans.

“Would you just trust me?” You yank the directions back from him. You grab his hand and lead him to the subway. Your cousin told you about a really small movie theater that always plays scary movies. You were hoping they were playing Psycho but you had to settle for something much worse for you. 

“The Exorcist?” Joe looked down at you in delight. “You told me never to even bother trying to get you to watch this.”

“I know. It’s your present. Or part of it. Basically because they weren’t playing Psycho anywhere. It’s 11 am. Maybe it won’t be as creepy to leave the theater into daylight. I am also making you hold my hand the whole time.”

Joe had a huge smile on his face when you looked up at him. “Done!”

 

After the movie, you were both really hungry. You stopped at a nearby pizza place.

“What did you think of the movie? I’m really glad you didn’t scream at any point. That would have been really embarrassing in front of the one other person in the theater.”

You laughed at him with a mouth full of pizza. “I think I liked The Shining better. Hurry and eat. We have to get to your parents part of the present.”

“Do I have to hold you hand during that too?”

“No. Since it’s your birthday, kind of, I’ll let you put your arm around me if you want.”

Joe’s parents had been able to get last minute tickets to see the matinee of Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Joe keeps his arm around you the whole time.

You let him pick where he wants to go to dinner. When you are on the subway to go to Chinatown for dinner, Joe holds your hand. You guys have basically been holding hands or touching in someway all day. This makes you hopeful that maybe he’ll try asking you out again. You know you could ask him but that’s not as much fun. You’re considering telling him that you never actually answered him the first time he asked you when the train stops at your station. 

After dinner, you have about an hour and a half until the next train to go back home, so Joe decides you guys should walk to the station. Once you make it and are standing there waiting, you work up the nerve to make a move on Joe.

“Do you want the last part of your present?” You stand directly in front of Joe and put your hands on his chest. You look up at him and lick your lips.

Joe purses his lips, “Do I have to unwrap it?”

“No. You just need to lean down a little bit.”

He puts his hand on your cheek and leans down to kiss you. You stand on your toes to meet him halfway. You’re basically making out when you hear someone nearby cough. There is a family with some pretty young children standing by you. The kids and dad are giggling at you guys. The mom does not look amused. You pull away from Joe. He shifts so he’s standing behind you and wraps his arms around you. You lean back against him. Joe rests his chin on your head. 

Once the train has been moving for about 15 minutes you stand up and reach out for Joe’s hand. He looks confused. “Just trust me, Joseph.” He rolls his eyes at you and takes your hand. You lead him to the bathroom. He yelps when you shove him inside. It’s a very small fit, so you sit on the sink. 

“What are we doing, Y/N?”

“We are going to make out in the bathroom like the teenagers we are.” You wrap your leg around the back of one of Joe’s to pull him towards you. He grabs your face with both of his hands and kisses you deeply. After about 20 minutes of heavy making out and Joe feeling you up for the first time, someone knocks on the door. You try not to laugh when Joe says, “Just a minute.” You slide off the sink and unlock the door. It’s the dad from the family that saw you making out before. You mumble sorry as you pass him. He tells you, “sorry to interrupt.” Both you and Joe start cracking up as you go back to your seats. 

When you get home, Joe walks you to your door. He kisses you again and pulls away slowly. He stares at into your eyes for a little bit looking like he wants to say something. He opens his mouth, slightly closes it, then opens it again, “Thank you for my birthday presents. I think I liked the train ride the best.” He kisses you again. “I never told you, but you look shitty tonight.”  
You crack up and push him away playfully. “Good night, Joe. Happy Birthday again.” You reach out and grab his shirt to pull him back to you so you can kiss him one last time. 

************

Joe is laying there in bed Sunday morning. He is kicking himself internally for not finally asking you to be his girlfriend last night. You basically took him on your first date for his birthday. You pulled him into the train bathroom. You must like him as much as he likes you. He almost asked you while standing by your front door. Right as the words were about to leave his lips, a mental picture of your face the last time he asked popped into his head followed by the knowledge he’d have to go back to LA to do reshoots sometime soon. He couldn’t bare to see that sadness on your face again. He settled for teasing you instead. He’d have to get over himself and go over and ask you this afternoon. 

About 1 pm, Joe finally goes over to your house. Your dad answers the door.

“Hi Joe, do you want to come in? Y/N should be home soon.” He opens the door to let him in.

“Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Y/L/N, I didn’t know she was gone.” Joe stays standing outside.

Your dad says, “Her mom took her shopping for a homecoming dress. Do you want me to have her call you when they get back?” Right as he says this, your mom’s van pulls into the driveway. You smile your best smile at Joe from the front seat. Joe doesn’t return in. He’s wondering why you didn’t ask him to go with you. If his school had dances, he would have asked you. If you were getting a dress, you must have a date. A date that’s not him. Joe loses all courage to ask you out.

“Hi Joe, did you enjoy New York City as much as Y/N?” Your mom asks him. 

“Yeah, it was great.” Joe looks forlorn. You stand directly in front of him. You just stand there and watch as your mom smiles at you both and walks inside. He looks down at you. You poke him in the stomach.

“Why do you look like someone made you watch them kick a puppy?” You ask him.

“Who are you going to homecoming with?” Joe whispers to you.

You place a hand on his arm. “I’m not going to the dance. It’s not really a date dance either. This is slightly embarrassing. I got nominated for homecoming queen so I have to dress up for the assembly at school in the afternoon. I’ll just be wearing my cheerleading outfit for the announcement at halftime. I was planning on going home after my obligations are over. I’d rather not get my classmates sweat on me during a giant grind session we call a “dance”.”

Joe asks, “When is it?” Joe wonders if he’d even be able to go with you and if he should offer to go with you.

“In two weeks.”

“Do you think you’ll win?”

You scoff at his question, “No. Greg and Alexa are still together and are both nominated. They make out at school between every class. Everyone loves it for some reason. I’m pretty sure they will win.”

“Wait a second. Are you popular?”

“No!”

“You have to be. You are nominated for homecoming. You’re on student council. Those are both popularity contests. You are also a cheerleader. You are totally popular. How am I your only friend? How did you get elected to student council when you weren’t in the country?” 

You roll your eyes at him. “I am not that popular. I’ve been on student council as the Treasurer since middle school. No one wants to be Treasurer. I made a video speech before I left. The teacher that runs student council is also the teacher in charge of French club. She loves me because I’ve been fluent in French since before high school. She bent the rules for me. I have other friends. You’re just the only person I like hanging out with everyday.”

“You are fluent in French?” Joe did not know this.

A slightly upset expression crosses your face before you tell him, “My mom’s brother married a French woman. They used to live here. She taught me till I was 12.”

Joe tilted his head at you. “I’m still convinced I’m your only friend. You’ll have to prove me wrong. Until then, can you come over and help me on my English paper?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place Fall 2000

After Joe’s birthday, things didn’t really change between Joe and you. You were at his house the Sunday after your day in NYC and were packing up your books to go home trying to decide if you should kiss him before you leave. Joe offers to walk you home “in case there were any murderers in the ten feet between our houses.” You hear his dad laughing at this reasoning from the kitchen. 

You stop in front of your door and turn to face him, “So yesterday…”

Joe interrupts you before you can ask if you guys are together now, “was a lot of fun. We should do it again sometime. You should bring some of your friends and I’ll bring some of mine. Prove we know other people. Good night, Y/N.” Joe kisses you on the cheek and walks back to his house. 

You start to wonder if Joe had some sort of brain injury after getting home on his birthday because he never mentions it. He doesn’t try to kiss you either. Maybe he thought because you said the kiss was his present it was a one day only thing. You are planning on asking him about it but there are always other people around. He seems to only come over when your brothers are home and on weekends he has friends over a lot. He invites you to hang out with them, but there is always at least one other person there. You invite some of your friends to watch movies in Joe’s basement. He does show you affection randomly. He will hold your hand when sitting next to you. If your brothers or parents aren’t watching, he’ll kiss your cheek before going home. The Monday of homecoming week, you are considering asking him to go with you to the dance just so he associates you with dating. He tells you that night that he has an audition in New York on Friday. He suggests you skip school and come with him. 

“I wish I could, Joe. I have a test in Calculus and I have to cheer at the homecoming game. How late are you going to be in the city? Would you be back by like 9?” If he was, he could meet you at your dance.  
Joe shrugs, “I have no idea. It depends on how everything goes. I could be back in the afternoon. I could be back really late.”

You decide to try something else. “So my friend Megan’s parents are going to be out of town Saturday. She’s throwing a party. I think most of my class is going. It’s going to be a disaster. Anyways, I think she liked your friend Zach that night we all watched movies. You should come with me and bring Zach. It’s probably going to get broken up by the cops but it’s 5 blocks away. We can just run home if that happens.” He just looks at you. You bat your eyelashes at him, “Please? Could be fun.”

“I’ll ask him at school tomorrow. If he doesn’t want to go, do you still want me to come with you?”

You nudge Joe’s foot under the table, “Of course I do. I just thought we could Parent Trap our friends. 

 

Your mom is dropping Joe, his friends Zach and Matt, and you off at the end of the street that Megan’s house is on.

Before your mom unlocks the van doors she asks, “Are you kids drinking at this party?” No one answers her. “Okay, when you guys are ready to come home, call the house. I will come get you and meet you back here. Don’t try and walk home. Especially if you have been drinking. Y/N, do you remember what I told you about the treehouse?”

You are confused where she is going with this. “Don’t tell your dad I said you and Joe could spend the night out there?”

Joe turns bright red and his friends start laughing.

Your mom says “No the other part. About it being uncomfortable and terrible.”

It’s your turn to be embarrassed. “Mom, please stop talking and let us out.”

Your mom laughs, “I’m just saying it’s not a good idea. Everyone at school will hear about it.”

“Thanks, mom!” “Thanks, Mrs. Y/L/N!”

Inside the party you see pretty much everyone you know at school. Megan runs up to you and is obviously quite drunk already. She grabs your face, “You look pretty. Did you bring Zach? He’s pretty too.” Zach is standing right behind you. You step aside so she can see him. She tells you thank you, grabs Zach’s hand and pulls him after her.

Joe starts laughing beside you, “That happened quickly. Should we find drinks?”

About an hour later, you find your friends Rachel and Katie in the kitchen. They are gathering people to play truth or dare. Rachel insists you guys play with them. There are about 10 people playing. If someones doesn’t want to do their dare or tell their truth, they have to do a shot. You have a bad feeling about this but play anyways. Right away, Rachel asks you for your truth if you’ve slept with anyone. You think about how you have slept next to Joe. It’s not what Rachel means but you say technically. You have noticed Matt keeps looking at Katie. You smirk and when he says dare you tell him to kiss the prettiest girl in the kitchen. He kisses Katie on the cheek. After about an hour or so, most people are pretty buzzed. A girl you don’t know but recognize from school dares Joe to kiss her. Everyone starts cheering. You just stare at Joe. Matt pushes him forward. Rachel and Katie turn to watch you. The girl walks up and stands directly in front of Joe. Joe actually leans down and kisses her on the mouth. He just gives her a peck, but she grabs his neck and practically shoves her tongue in his mouth. You are furious. Your friends are gasping at you with their mouths open. You turn and leave the house before the random girl releases Joe. You are crying and walking as fast as you can down the street. You hear someone behind you. 

Joe yells after you, “Y/N, why are you mad? It’s just a game. You and I aren’t together.” He catches up with you and asks quietly, “Who have you slept with?”

You stop and spin around to face him. “You kissed some random girl. Why wouldn’t I be mad about that?”

Joe scoffs, “You slept with someone. Maybe I was mad about that.”

“Oh my gosh! I was talking about sleeping with you in the treehouse. I haven’t had sex with ANYONE. The ONLY reason you and I aren’t together is because YOU haven’t asked me!”

"Do you want to…”

You cut him off, “DON’T ASK ME RIGHT NOW! You just kissed someone else in front of me!” You start crying again. 

“Y/N, I’m sorry. Can I walk you home?” 

“Please don’t kiss anyone else.”

Joe tries joking with you, “There isn’t anyone else out here to kiss.”

You turn and start walking without him. He quickly catches up. “Y/N, I’m sorry. That was too soon to joke. I promise I won’t kiss anyone else.” He grabs your hand. “Am I allowed to kiss you?”

“Not tonight. You can tomorrow.”

**********

The next day you are sitting at your kitchen table with your mom. She is helping you fill out your college applications. Suddenly there is a hand between your shoulder blades and someone kissing you on the cheek. It’s Joe, kissing you, in front of your mom. You look at him in wide-eye shock. You look at your mom who is beaming at the both of you.

“Good morning, Mrs. Y/L/N. I am sorry I let Y/N walk home last night.”

“Good morning, Joe. Y/N told me it was her fault. Have you started this process?” She points to the pile of applications.

“I have to write some essays still.” Joe is looking at your applications with a gloomy expression. You realize this is probably a reminder to him that a year from now you want to be in a different country. You want to hide all the applications from him so things don’t get messed up between you two again. 

You mom tells Joe, “I just read Y/N’s essay. I cried. I am completely biased but I don’t know why they wouldn’t let her in.”

Joe looks over at you softly, “May I read your essay?” You try to keep your smirk to yourself and hand it to him. “Y/N. This is in French.”

“It’s a French university.”

“Can I read the one your mom read?”

“You have the one she read. Do you want a French to English dictionary?”

Your mom chuckles at you. “Sorry Joe, I know a little bit of French. Y/N translated the words I didn’t know.

Joe pinches your side. You are surprised how affectionate and flirty he’s being in front of your mom. “Will you read it to me? Preferably in English.” 

You want to read it to him because you want him to know you better, but your essay is basically an ode to how much you have wanted to leave and explore the world since you were a small child. Sitting here next to Joe with his hand on your knee is making you question that. Thankfully your mom saves you from having to answer him. She probably realizes how awkward reading it to him could be. “Her essay is about my sister in law. I am very upset she didn’t choose me as the person that has inspired her the most.”

“Sorry, mom. I love you too”

After lunch, Joe and you retreat to the basement. You both have reading to do. He sits on the sofa. You decide since he’s started being affectionate you will too. You sit next to him and put your legs over his lap. He rests his book on your legs and smiles over at you. You are soon ahead of where you need to be in your book, so you rest your head on Joe’s shoulder and start reading along with him. His class must still be doing Shakespeare because he’s reading Romeo and Juliet. When he notices you reading his book, he starts reading out loud. He gets more and more dramatic. Soon he’s standing up and reading all the characters in different voices. Joe is being very loud and attracts the attention of the rest of your family. They slowly trickle into the family room to watch him. When he is acting out Romeo’s death, he kneels in front of you on the sofa. He kisses you straight on the mouth when Romeo kisses Juliet. Your mom claps for him when he “dies”. 

You notice your dad looking between you and Joe, who is pretending to be dead at your feet. “You two are kissing now? Or was that dedicated acting?” Your mom shushes him.

Aiden helpfully says, “They’ve been kissing the whole time.” Joe’s eyes quickly open and you glare at your little brother. Aiden sticks his tongue out at you. 

At the same time, Joe says “I’m sorry, sir.” and you say “that is not completely accurate” while pointing to your brother.

Your dad looks at you sternly, he turns to your mom who is laughing at the situation, then he turns back to you with a friendlier expression and points at you, “If your mother and I are not home, and the Mazzello’s are, I want you two to go over there. If Joe’s parents are both gone and one of us is home, I want you here. If no parents are home” your dad pauses to think about what he wants you to do in this situation. It ends up happening a lot after school. He huffs and continues, “no bedrooms. Don’t give us a reason not to trust you both.”

Joe looks very seriously at your dad, “Yes, sir. I am sure my parents will agree to these rules” You think to yourself how much of a suck up he’s being right now. Joe is now sitting in up in front of you.

“Would you like stay for dinner, Joe?” you dad asks him. The sucking up worked. 

“I should probably go home and spend some time with my own family.” Joe puts each of his hands on one of your knees. He looks at you like he is going to kiss you as himself instead of as a character. He looks at your family members all watching him. He gets an awkward expression on his face. He stands up and pats you on the head. You look at him in curiosity. Joe mumbles, “okay bye” and leaves your house. 

************

Joe never actually asks you again to be his girlfriend but treats you as though you are. He follows your dad’s rules pretty well. One Saturday afternoon, your dad comes downstairs where Joe and you are talking with the TV on in the background while Joe plays with your fingers. Your dad tells you he’s taking the twins to their friend’s birthday. “Neither your mom or I will be back till late. Do you need money for pizza?”  
“I think there are leftovers. If not, I have enough cash.” 

Joe tells him, “Since you’ll be gone, we’ll go to my house. I can feed her.” You roll your eyes at him.

Your dad looks at you both like he’s thinking hard about something, “I think Ryan is around here somewhere. You guys look comfortable. Just stay out of Y/N’s bedroom”

Joe stands up and extends his hand to you, “Come on, lets go avoid homework at my house.”

You look at your dad and then Joe. Joe looks at you expectantly. You huff, “You are such a suck up.” You guys follow your dad out of the house. 

Before he goes out the door your dad says, “Joe’s a good one. You should probably keep him around for a while.”

When your dad shuts his car door you whisper to Joe, “Should I tell him if he had come downstairs 5 minutes earlier he would have caught us making out?”

“No! I’m close to being allowed to be home alone with you. I have plans for that day.” Joe winks at you. Your face gets really warm at this thought.

When you’re over at Joe’s that night, his mom brings out little kids pictures of Joe. They are amazing. Joe doesn’t enjoy this as much as you do. Especially when you find one where he is in the bathtub as a baby. At the end of one of the phone albums, there are some pictures of Joe’s parents. They look like teenagers. You ask his mom when they are from. 

“That is us in high school. That one is from our prom.” She points to the one of them all dressed up.

His dad proudly tells you, “I knew early I found a good one.” He looks at his wife with eyes full of love. Joe puts his arm around you after his dad says this. It’s one of the rare occasions he is affectionate in front of his parents. The gesture warms your heart. That night when you get home you fill out the application to Stanford you asked your guidance counselor for but you hadn’t done anything with yet.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Highschool Joe and reader celebrate New Years Eve

A few days before New Years Eve your mom comes into your room before you’re even out of bed. 

“Hi honey. I made your favorite breakfast.”

She never makes you breakfast when it’s not a school day. You instantly think she must be up to something. “I’m not awake enough to eat yet. What do you want?”

“I would like you to babysit the twins on New Years Eve. Your dad and I got invited to a party in the city. I am prepared to bribe you.”

You groan and sit up, “Joe and I have plans with Megan and Zach. That’s going to take a big bribe.”

“What if everyone comes over here?”

“I wasn’t going to originally tell you this, but Megan’s parents aren’t going to be home. That sounds more fun.” You lay back down to go back to sleep.

“I will keep your father out all night..”

“Eww”

“Everyone, Megan, Zach, Joe can spend the night here. Your dad and I will be gone till morning.” You don’t say anything because you don’t think Joe’s parents will let him stay the night here knowing your parents aren’t home.Your mom must realize this because the next thing she says is “I’ll convince Joe’s parents. Ryan can have John over too so it’s more likely they will say yes.”

“Fine. Can I go back to sleep now?”

Megan and Zach decide a parentless house is more fun that one full of younger siblings. Joe’s parents heard Zach talking about how Megan’s parents weren’t going to be home so he wasn’t allowed to go there anymore anyways. Your mom promised Joe’s parents the twins were excellent spies and would tell on the older kids if anything happened so Joe is allowed to come help you babysit. Your mom also gave them a key to the house to allow them to come check up on you guys at any time. Aiden is asleep with his legs on your lap. Jackson is asleep on the ground in front of you. Joe and you are watching John and Ryan play video games. 

About 11:30 pm when you’re about to fall asleep, Joe turns to you, “How did we become parents?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re parents are out partying and we are at home with 4 kids about to fall asleep before midnight?”

You laugh at his very correct assessment.”Wake me up when it’s midnight.”

You don’t actually end up falling asleep. The boys stop playing video games and turn on the TV. You guys flip the channels between a few different stations playing countdowns to midnight. You wake up the twins so they can join the countdown. Joe gives you a tiny peck at midnight which Jacks says “eww” to so you chase him around till you catch him and kiss him on the cheek. About an hour later, everyone is basically asleep including you. You look over at Joe who seems wide awake. He points up the stairs while making eye contact with you. You stand and gather all the cups and plates from around the room to take to the kitchen. As soon as you put everything in the sink, Joe wraps his arms around your waist. He starts kissing the back of your neck.

“Joe, what are you doing?”

“Kissing you. Everyone is asleep. I’ve been waiting to get you alone all night.” He turns you around and cups your face with one hand as he kisses your lips. His other hand is still wrapped around your waist. You kiss him back deeply. He moves to lift you onto the counter but you stop him.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?”

“I don’t think I should be making out with anyone that’s not my boyfriend.”

Joe points to himself in confusion.

“You never actually asked me anything, Joe. Technically we are just friends.”

“Oh please” He has the audacity to roll his eyes at you. He tries kissing you again but you turn your head. You have referred to him as your boyfriend to your friends for a while. You’re pretty sure he’s done the same. When his sister came home from college for Christmas break she told you she’s been really excited to meet Joe’s girlfriend. You decide to give him a hard time about it before you do what you want to do with him next. 

“Y/N Y/L/N, would you please do me the honor of being my girlfriend?”

“Yes.” He tries kissing you again but you turn your head again.

He impatiently huffs “What now?”

You laugh and take his hand in yours. You lead him out of the kitchen and into the hallway towards your bedroom, you start walking backyards so you can see his face. “Now Joe, we are going to have to stay quiet so we don’t wake anyone up. Also, we are keeping all our clothes on. However, anything you want to do that can be done while remaining clothed, feel free to do.” You wrap your arms around his neck and kiss him. “Clothing can be shifted slightly. Maybe a button or two undone. Perhaps even a zipper pulled down. Just mostly remaining on in case anyone wakes up.”

“Holy shit. Are you sure?”

You finishing pulling Joe into your room and shut to door 90%, “I am very sure. Or you could tell me the plans you had for when you got me alone.”

“Baby, this is much better than my plans.”

You push him gently onto your bed. He crawls back so he is laying down on it. You crawl onto the bed and lay down on top of him. You kiss his neck. A small moan escapes his lips then, “I should have asked you to be my girlfriend a long time ago.”  
You pull back and hover over him, “You probably should have asked me after the first time you kissed me.”

“Would you have said yes then?”

“You’re cute and that was a really good kiss. So maybe. Definitely about a week after that” You lay back down and kiss him some more. He wraps his arms around you underneath your shirt.

“I am an idiot then.” Joe and you make out for a really long time. He seems to be hesitant to do more. His hands have been roaming all over your back and chest, but that has happened before a few times. His hand is barely under the waistband of your jeans on your hip when he pulls back from your lips, “Y/N, I’ve never done this before.”

You kiss him and put your hand on his cheek, “Neither have I. I want to if you want to though.”

Joe kisses you and says, “Oh I want to. Tell me if you don’t like it or anything like that.”

Joe makes out with you a little while longer before he makes his way into your pants. You had had friends tell you some about their experiences but it was way better than you thought it would be. After that, you return the favor to him. He kisses you softly before he sneaks back down to the basement to sleep so your parents don’t find him in your room.

About 7 am the phone starts ringing. You’re glad there is a phone in your room you can reach without having to fully getting out of bed.

“Hello”

You mom is on the line whispering, “Y/N, your dad is in the shower. I wanted to wake you so Joe can sneak out of your room before anyone wakes up.”

“Joe didn’t sleep in my room.” 

“What?? You are too well behaved sometimes. I definitely would have had my boyfriend stay in my room at your age.”

“Will you bring back bagels? I’m going back to sleep.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Valentine’s Day 2001

Joe is on his way over to your house with a bag full of groceries. He had talked with your mom and was cooking you dinner for Valentine’s Day. You didn’t know. Your mom said she would convince you you were having a family dinner for Valentine’s Day. You had to stay after school for student council so you wouldn’t be home until about 6pm. It gave him plenty of time. Joe’s dad had taught him how to make spaghetti sauce from scratch so that’s what he was going to do. Your mom would be there so he could find things in the kitchen. She was going to take all your brothers to meet your dad for dinner before you got home. Joe was planning on telling you he loves you at dinner. He had been excited about it all week. He had almost slipped a few times recently and told you. He wanted to make it special because he thought he had done such a bad job of asking you to be his girlfriend. He had left a card on your car this morning and sent you flowers at school. He was practically dancing as he was setting out everything he needed.

Your mom laughs behind him, “You in a good mood, Joe?”

“Yes, Mrs. Y/L/N. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.” Joe turns around and smiles at your mom.

Joe had gotten your favorite ice cream for you and was moving to put it in the freezer when he saw a letter being held to the fridge with magnets. You had been accepted to the Sorbonne. When Joe stops and stares, your mom realizes what happened.  
“She got it two days ago. She said you’d been in such a good mood this week she didn’t tell you. I think she’s scared to tell you. She doesn’t know how you’re going to react” Your mom paused for a beat. ‘Since Y/N has come back from France, she’s told me pretty much everything about her life. It wasn’t like that before she went. I think it may be because she’s so happy with you. Joe, can I ask you a question?”

Joe turned around and faced your mom. He was scared what she was going to ask him. He knew she asked you pretty regularly if you and he were having sex. He really hoped she wasn’t going to ask him something like that. He hesitantly said yes.  
“Do you love my daughter?”

Joe blushed, “Yes ma’am”

Your mom smiled at him warmly. “I thought you might. I am going to tell you a few things. One that Y/N doesn’t know yet and a couple I’m guessing she hasn’t told you. I think my daughter loves you too because like I said she’s talked to me a lot recently. She did not tell me about this.” Your mom hands Joe a large thick envelope from Stanford University with your name on it. 

Joe is shocked when he realizes what this means. You could be in the same state as him next year. He had been dreading the end of the school year. He had no idea what to do about being on a different continent as you for the foreseeable future. He can’t imagine not seeing you everyday. The very idea of that scares him.

You mom kept talking, “I didn’t open it, but that would be a really big rejection letter. Do you remember Y/N’s application essay about her aunt? I am going to tell you what it said because I need you to understand before I ask you a favor. My brother was a really good photographer. He would travel the world for work. He met a French interpreter, Charlotte, on his travels and ended up marrying her. They moved back here. Charlotte adored Y/N. They never had kids of their own and Charlotte doted on Y/N like a daughter. She only spoke French to Y/N which is why she’s fluent. My brother and Charlotte traveled a lot for work and would come back and tell Y/N all about it. Those stories were like most little girls fairy tales to Y/N. Y/N adored Charlotte and has always wanted to grow up to be like her. When Y/N was 12, my brother and Charlotte were in a plane accident in the Swiss Alps. Y/N was devastated. She basically lost her second mom. Y/N became even more determined to be like Charlotte since then. That’s what she wrote about, how much Charlotte influenced her, losing that influence, and wanting to make Charlotte proud. I think basically every decision Y/N has made since they died has been to get into the Sorbonne and become a interpreter and travel the world. It doesn’t seem like that’s the only thing she wants now. Joe, I haven’t seen my daughter as happy as she’s been recently in a really long time. I adore you and I know you guys are too young for this but I would be thrilled to have you as a son-in-law some day. But I need you to promise me you will let Y/N make this decision herself.”  
Joe didn’t realize he was crying until your mom walked up and hugged him. 

“I’m sorry Joe, I know that was a lot of information. It’s a lot to ask. I promise you I won’t tell Y/N to go to Paris and I won’t hold her back from going to California if that’s what she wants to do.”

“I don’t know if I got into school there yet.”

You mom scoffed, “Y/N told me about your recommendation letter. They’d be stupid to not let you in if Steven Spielberg thinks they should.”

Joe hesitated before deciding to ask your mom for advice, “I was going to tell Y/N I love her tonight. That’s why I’ve been so excited. Do you think that’s a good idea? Should I wait till she decides about college? Or when I know about college?”

“I think if you know that’s how you feel about her, you should tell her. Always tell someone you love them if you do.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Y/L/N”

“You can call me mom.” Joe felt himself turn bright red at this. “Or how about Kathy. Mrs. Y/L/N is my mother-in-law. I’ll set the table since I distracted you from cooking.”

 

Joe greated you at the door when you got home. 

“Joe, what are you doing here? Are those candles on the table?” You were looking around him at the table.

Joe kissed you on the cheek, “Right this way m’lady” and led you to the table.

“Joe, this is so sweet. You already got me a card and flowers. When did you plan all this?”

“About 3 weeks ago. Had to make sure you weren’t working. Your mom got everyone else out of the house for me. We are alone until approximately 8:30 pm.”

You smiled mischievously at him and got up and sat on his lap. “Do you want to eat or do you want to go to my room?”

“Listen young lady, I put my sweat and tears into this meal for 40 minutes! You will eat it!” Joe felt his whole body move with your laughter. “The food is ready. I also have some things I want to tell you. After that I will not fight you on going to your room.”

“That’s so kind of you. I don’t want to force anything on you.” You winked at him. “What things do you want to tell me.” You were playing with hair on the back of Joe’s neck.

“Let’s eat first.” 

 

“Joe, I didn’t know you could cook. That was great. I think I’m half pasta now.” 

“You’re half pasta? Good thing I like pasta. Do you taste like pasta now?” Joe got up from his seat and walked around the table to you. He acted like he was going to kiss you but at the last second moved his head and bit your neck. You burst into laughter. He loved the sound of your laugh. He loved everything he could think of about you. Even the dreams you had that threatened to tear you away from him. He loved how determined you were to make them happen. He really wanted to tell you how he felt. He stopped biting you to look at your face. Your smile reminded him of the picture in your room of you when you were younger with a 30 something blonde on the Eiffel Tower. He realized that must be your aunt Charlotte. He reached out his hands and pulled you to your feet. He walked towards your room.

“Um, Joseph, I thought you had things to tell me?”

“I’m going to multitask.” Joe sat down on your bed. You laid down on it and patted the spot next to you so Joe laid down next to you. He placed his hand on the side of your face, stroking your cheek bone with his thumb. “Y/N, I like you more than anything.”

“More than baseball? More than movies?” Your mouth was open wide with fake shock.

“I am going to be serious for a minute.”

“Sorry, baby.” You closed your mouth, pursing your lips trying not to smile.

“You’re my best friend. My favorite person. I think you moving next door may be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Your eyes get glossy as Joe was saying this to you.

“You’re my favorite too Joe.” You tapped your index finger to your lips.

“Oh do you want me to kiss you?”

“Yes, please. I like kissing my best friend.” You sat up slightly to look at the clock. “We have an hour and a half. What do you think we can get up to in that time?”

“I’d say about third base.” Joe smirked at you.

“I like this type of baseball.” You pulled Joe down into a kiss.

************

Your mom comes into your room the day after Valentine’s Day and sits on your bed next to you. She has something white and large she placed next to her opposite the side you are on. You are unable to tell what it is. 

“How was your and Joe’s Valentine's Day?”

“It was good. Great even.”

“How good?” Your mom looks at you like she’s trying to pry information out of you.

“We still haven’t had sex if that’s what you are asking.”

“I wasn’t. How close are you? Do you still have those condoms I bought you?”

You rolled your eyes at your mom. “I still have them.” You scrunch up your nose and skeptically ask, “Do you want me to tell you exactly what we’ve done?”

You mom seems to think about this for a little bit, “I thought maybe you told him you loved him yesterday. Would have been an appropriate day.”

“No, I didn’t. He told me I was his favorite person. I said he was mine too. No offense. Why did you think I told him I loved him?”

“Because you do, don’t you?” she says like is incredibly obvious

You sheepishly say “Yes.”

You mom smiled at you. “You should see this then.” She handed you the letter from Stanford. 

You opened it. You got in. You could be in the same state as Joe. It would be an almost 6 hour drive. You could probably still do the same job you wanted. Or you could be 9 time zones away from Joe in the best program to make your lifelong dreams happen. You start sobbing. Your mom wraps her arms around you. She starts crying with you. Your dad hears both of you. He sits on the end of the bed.

“Ladies, are you okay? Did something bad happen?” You dad looks very concerned. Your mom lets you go and hands him your acceptance letter. Now your dad just looks confused.

“Those look like sad tears. Y/N, you got into one of the best schools in the country. Why are we crying about that?”

“Because I,” you start crying more and can’t explain. 

Your mom quietly says, “She has to pick between California and Paris now”

“Ahh. I see now.” Your dad holds your foot with his hand because it’s all he can reach from where he’s sitting.

You stop crying enough to explain, “I feel like if I choose Paris, I’m choosing to break up with Joe. If I choose California, I feel like I’m breaking up with the person I’ve dreamed of being when I grow up. Can you guys just tell me what to do?”

Your dad squeezes your foot. You mom says, “You can still do your dreams from California. You don’t have to break up with him if you go to France. The internet gets better all the time. The distance might not be as bad as you think.”

“I would miss him so much though.”

Your dad tells you, “You’d miss him more if you broke up with him.”

“It took us forever to actually be together. I’m scared to bring it up and ruin what is finally so good.”

You dad asks, “Haven’t you been together since June?”

You and your mom reply in unison, “No!”

Your dad looks annoyed, “Well, he has been in love with you since June. I am the only one here that has ever been a teenage boy. He’s been yours since June.”

This is the first thing that has made you smile since you opened your letter.

*************

That weekend, Joe and you go on a double date with Zach and Megan. When he’s driving you home you tell him to go drive into the country. You want to talk to him about college when no one is around. He pulls the car over by a field outside of town. You get out of the car and into the backseat. Joe follows suit. You put your legs over his lap. His hands are instantly rubbing all over them and he’s leaning into to kiss you.

“Joe, I wanted to talk to you.” He starts kissing your neck.

“You can talk. I am going to do this.” He moves to the other side of your neck.

You giggle, “Joe! I have something serious to say to you. I told you to come out here so we wouldn’t be interrupted.”

Joe kisses you on the mouth. You kiss back. He opens his mouth slightly and you push your tongue inside. You shift so you’re straddling him. Joe’s hands are roaming your back. He starts kissing towards your ear. He whispers, “I think it's much more important we don’t get interrupted doing this. We can talk tomorrow at one of our houses. I just want to kiss you right now. Is that okay?”

You kiss him deeply, “Only if you will come to my prom with me? It’s a week before graduation.”

“I’d love to” Joe beams up at you. 

“You can kiss me now.”

“Can I kiss you anywhere?”

“Where do you have in mind?” Joe moves his hands to the button on your jeans. He raises his eyebrows then rubs your inner thighs. You bite your lip and nod your head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I definitely didn’t cry writing this... twice (this is a complete lie)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe and Reader’s prom, May 2001

You and Megan are putting on your makeup for prom together in your bathroom. Your mom pops in to tell you you have 30 minutes till the boys get there. You are very nervous about tonight but are not fully sure why. You think it may be because you finally took the condoms out of your bottom desk drawer and put them in your purse for tonight. You don’t know if the opportunity will come up to use them but you want to be ready if it does. You are ready to take that step. You love Joe and can’t imagine having your first time be with anyone else. 

Half an hour later, Zach, Joe’s parents, and Joe are waiting in your living room. All the parents have cameras ready. Joe looks so handsome in his suit. He stares at you with his mouth hanging open when you come out in your dress. You have a huge smile on your face from this. You walk up to stand in front of him. He puts his hands on your hips and whispers so only you hear, “You look so shitty.” He places a hand on your cheek and moves in to kiss you. 

You place a hand on his chest to stop him and point to your lips, “lipstick”

“So my choices are to not kiss you all night or get a little bit of lipstick on my face. Easy choice.” He wraps an arm around your waist and kisses you deeper than he ever has in front of either of your parents. Your mom gets a picture of this exact moment. She also get the look of your pure embarrassment right afterwards. Joe’s mom hands him a tissue to wipe the lipstick off his mouth. 

 

At the dance, Joe immediately starts tearing up the dance floor. You are a little more timid but his pure enthusiasm gets you to join in wholeheartedly. When a slow song comes on, you are glad initially so you can catch your breath. Joe pulls you in closer than you thought was possible with your poofy dress. You had your foreheads pressed together as you sway in a small circle. 

“You really do look beautiful tonight. You always do but yeah you look beautiful.”

You kiss him, “Thank you. You clean up pretty nice yourself.” You rest your head against Joe’s chest.

After the song is over, Zach comes up and puts a hotel key in Joe’s hand. 

“Megan broke up with me. You guys can have this. Room’s paid for.” He walks off.

Joe looks at you with wide eyes “Oh shit. Do you need to go find your friend?”

“Probably” 

You look around and see Megan dancing with Rachel and Katie. She seems perfectly fine. You point this out to Joe. 

You grab both his hands and kiss him. “We could also go see the room. Maybe stay the night there.”

“Yeah, I’m good with that.” Joe has one of the most excited looks you’ve ever seen on his face.

 

The hotel room is surprisingly nice. There are also rose petals spread out on the bed. Joe picks up a bottle of champagne that is sitting out on the table and starts cracking up.

“He didn’t get real champagne. This is the non alcoholic version.”

“That can’t taste good. It’s warm too.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Joe asks you earnestly.

You walk up to him and kiss him. You open your small clutch so he can see what you brought with you.

“Oh! You are prepared for this” Joe blushes.

“Do you want to do this? We don’t have to. I have just thought about it and I feel ready. I want to do it with you.”

“I want it to be with you too. I’m ready.” 

He grabs the condoms out of your purse and throws them onto the bed. You reach your hands up and push the jacket off his shoulders. You turn around so he can unzip your dress. You step out of it. When you turn back around a small moan leaves Joe’s mouth as he takes in how you look in just your strapless bra and underwear. You push your dress out from in front of him and start take off the rest of his clothes. When both of you are in just your underwear, you get into the bed. Joe starts by just kissing you. The kissing progresses into wandering hands, and then mouths. When Joe and you finally lose your virginities to each other, it’s very sweet and feels right. Afterwards, Joe and you are laying down facing each other. He looks more nervous than when you first got into the hotel room.

“Y/N, this is NOT just because of the sex, I’ve wanted to tell you for a while.” He kisses you, “you are more than my favorite person. I love you. I have loved you for a while.” He kisses you again. 

You kiss him back. You pull away and are about to say it back but your mouth betrays you, “I’m going to Paris.” You kick yourself internally. Why tell him that now? You love him so much, why not say that.

Joe instantly sits up, “You’re leaving me?”

“No, I’m going to college where I’ve always planned to.”

“No, you’re leaving me! Why not do it now?” Joe gets up and starts gathering his clothes.

“I’m not leaving you! Come back here. Please?”

“You already didn’t pick me. You could have picked going to California with me. You didn’t! We should just break up now. Make it easier.”

Tears start silently falling down your face at his words. “I don’t want to break up! That’s the last thing I want. I want to be with you. It will be hard but not impossible.”

Joe is completely dressed now. “I’ll see you around, Y/N.” Joe storms out of the hotel room. 

When you can somewhat manage to slow down your crying enough you call your mom to pick you up. 

************

A week later and a half later you go over to Joe’s house. He’s been ignoring your phone calls. You are going on vacation with your family tomorrow. You know from Joe’s mom when you come back, Joe will be gone doing publicity for the movie he filmed last summer. After that you’ll be gone for school. His mom smiles kindly when she lets you in. You go up to his door. You see a flash of warmth when he opened the door like he forgot he was mad at you. He is now just looking down at you coldly. 

“Joe, I never got the chance to tell you I love you too.”

“That’s nice, Y/N. What are you going to do about it? Leave?” He shuts the door in your face.

You gently knock again, “I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow. We won’t see each other again before we both start school. Can we hang out? Or talk? You’re my best friend.”

He opens the door. The glare is still on his face. “I’m busy.”

“Please”

Nothing. Joe says nothing. His face gives away nothing. He just stands there.

“Okay, well I am going to talk real quick. I love you. So much. I have loved you for a while. I thought you deserved to know. I wish I could do a lot of things over from the past year. Mainly saying yes the first time you asked me to be your girlfriend. We could have been together longer. You are my favorite person. You have been since I met you. I hope you have a good life. I will miss you more than I know how to put into words.” You wipe the tears from your face, step forward and kiss him on the cheek.

Joe turns his head down to you. His eyes are glassy. “What am I supposed to do with that?” He shuts the door in your face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also cried writing part of this chapter  
> This is the last of the flashback part


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place in Spring 2015

You are standing in your parents kitchen for the first time in years. You were between assignments for work and your mom surprised you with a plane ticket home. She thought you needed it. It had been a rough couple months. You had been dating a guy for a few years. You didn’t see him too often because you traveled a lot for work. Jacques proposed and it caught you completely off guard. You hadn’t realized until he was standing in front of you holding a ring you had never pictured that future with him. Now you are standing in front of the refrigerator looking at a pictures of random family members doing random activities. You push one to the side. Underneath is the picture of Joe kissing you before prom. 

Your mom notices what you are looking at. “You need a glass of wine.”

You turn to her and chuckle. “Mom, it’s 1 pm.”

“It’s fine. I’ll have one too.”

You sit on the counter as your mom gets out to glasses. She way over pours the wine you brought home with you. You laugh when she hands you a wine glass filled almost to the top.

“Cheers!”  
“à ta santé”

“I gotta ask you honey, you really didn’t realize Jacques was going to propose?”

You sigh, “no. Maybe I just missed the signs because I didn’t want to marry him. Ugh! His face was so terrible when I said no. Almost as terrible as my impassive one was.”

“When was the last time you talked to Joe?” asks your mom airily.

“Really, mom? It was before university. May 2001.”

“He lives in Brooklyn now. You should call while you’re home.”

“Is the wine already affecting you? That’s a terrible idea. I don’t think I should.” You feel an ache in your chest even now thinking about Joe. “Did I tell you about when Line and I saw “The Social Network”? She downloaded it and it was the French dubbed version. I didn’t really notice it until Joe popped up on screen. It was the wrong voice and I cried. She still makes fun of me for it.”

“Can I ask you something? When you saw the engagement ring, whose face did you see?”

You didn’t answer you just took a large gulp from your glass. Joe is the only man you’ve ever been with that you pictured that future with. 

“If you want to call him, I’ll get his phone number from his mom.”

You close your eyes. You’d really like to hear his voice. You finish your glass, “I’m going to go read in the backyard. I love you mom. Thanks for bringing me home.”

“Aiden and Jacks should be here about 4pm with your dad.”

 

You had been reading against the former tree house tree for a while when you heard someone call your name. It must have been because you had been talking about him with you mom because you swore it was Joe’s voice.

“Y/N?!”

You look up. Holy shit. It is Joe. He looks good. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Joe has a huge smile on his face. “I saw you from the kitchen and thought I was hallucinating.” He is walking to his side of the fence.

You spring up to join him on your side. “My mom insisted I come home and bought me a plane ticket.” You are standing directly in front of him for the first time in 14 years. You have no idea what to say to him. 

“You look shitty.” Joe smirks at you.

“I look better than you!” You sass back and smile at him. 

“Can I give you an awkward over the fence hug?” 

You don’t say anything and just hold out your arms. He pulls you in tightly. He smells good. You notice a girl coming out from his house. You don’t recognize her. You don’t like using this word even to yourself but you can’t help but thinking she has a bitchy look on her face.

“So, Y/N, how’s traveling the world? What’s your favorite place you’ve been?”

“Ugh, you always ask such difficult questions. My favorite place? I think it would have to be standing in Rome looking over the Roman Forum. There is a gelato place just up the hill called Sweet Dreams. It is accurately named! I have literally had sweet dreams about their lemon gelato.”

Joe laughs at your comment. The dark haired girl is now standing next to him. You politely smile at her. She continues her bitch glare. 

Joe knits his eyebrows together. “Is the gelato as good as eating popcorn in your old tree house while watching scary movies?”

You smiled and looked at the ground. “No. It’s a distant second place.” Warm memories of nights spent with Joe in the tree house flood your mind. You feel yourself starting to get emotional. You refuse to cry in front of this girl who is now putting her hand on Joe’s back. “The twins should be here any minute. I should go in and help my mom with dinner. If you, or you guys, are ever in France, let me know. Your sister has my phone number. It was nice seeing you, Joe.”

“Yeah, you too Y/N” The girl glares up at Joe when he says your name. You get a small satisfaction from the fact she knows your name. 

You really want to turn around and see him again, but tears are threatening to make an appearance. You are crying by the time you get in the kitchen. Your mom takes one look at you and grabs your wine glass from before to refill it. 

When your brothers and dad get home, you are full on crying in the kitchen with your mascara running down your face. You try to smile at your brothers. Aiden captures a picture of you awkwardly smiling with tear soaked cheeks with a wine glass in one hand. You look ridiculous. It quickly becomes everyone else in your family’s favorite picture of you.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place March 2017

Joe is standing on your parent’s porch. He’s been staying at home for a while helping his mom take care of his dad. He hasn’t been over here yet. He knew he should probably come say hi because your parents were always nice to him and his family. He never knew how much to ask about you though. He wanted to know everything but didn’t know if he should ask. He knew your mom would tell you anything he said. He took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

Your mom answered with a large smile. It reminded Joe of yours. “Hi Joe! I didn’t know you were home.” She pulled Joe into a big hug.

“Hi, Mrs. Y/L/N.”

“Please come in, how have you been?”

“I’ve been good. I’ve been staying at home helping. How are you?”

“I’m good.” She smirked and added, “the whole family is good. That’s nice of you to come home and help.”

“That’s actually why I came over. I was cooking dinner and dropped the last two eggs on the floor. I was wondering if I could get two from you.”

You mom laughed, “Of course. The kitchen is still in the same place.”

Joe went up to the kitchen. He was about to open the fridge when he saw a picture of you in his eyeline. There was mascara streaked down your face. Despite smiling you looked miserable.

Your mom tells him, “Y/N hates that picture. Her brothers love it. It gets sent a lot in the family text chain. There is always a lot of French profanity afterwards.”

Joe laughs because he can imagine your brothers doing this. He finds it adorable you don’t swear in English when your parents are on the text. 

“What was wrong when the picture was taken?” He turns to look at your mom. She is looking at the ground. ”I am not sure if she would want me to tell you.”

Joe nods, “I understand. It’s none of my business.”

Your mom smiles and throws her hands up. “I can’t help myself. I’m going to tell you anyways. It was the last time she was home. Right after she came back inside from talking to you and your girlfriend.”

It’s Joe’s turn to look at the floor. He didn’t think he’d have this kind of affect on you anymore. As far as he knew you had everything you ever wanted. Joe looks back up at your mom.

“That girl and I broke up. I thought my mom told me Y/N was engaged around that time. Why would she cry about me when she’s engaged?” Joe’s eyes got huge because he didn’t really mean to ask the last part out loud.

”She said no. She had never pictured marrying him. To my knowledge, she’s only thought of marrying one person.” Your mom was smiling at Joe again.

Joe didn’t know what to say so he turned around to grab the eggs. Joe had thought about 2 weeks into meeting you that you were the girl he wanted to marry. He knew he shouldn’t be since he was in a relationship at the time, but he had been devastated when he heard you were engaged. Your mom started to hand him a paper bag to carry them in. Probably a good call since he dropped the last two. Your mom grabbed the eggs from him. She put them in the bag. Joe held his hand out for the bag. Your mom turned around and was rummaging through a drawer. She was writing on the bag. She handed it to him. She was smiling conspiratorially. 

”You know Joe, I’m still holding out hope that you’re my son-in-law someday. Why do you think I always let you guys spend the night together all the time? I’ve always liked you. That’s my daughter’s phone number. My daughter’s, who is single, phone number. Just shoot her a text sometime.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place May 2017  
> Italics are text messages. I put initials to show who sent them. Comment if this format is annoying or anything and I'll fix it in future chapters

You were sitting in your hotel’s bar in Tokyo on your laptop. There was no one around. You were quietly working on translating some contracts. It was your first night in town and weren’t brave enough to explore on your own this late at night. You were trying to pick what you wanted to drink from the menu when your phone buzzed.

 

_ -Hi, this is Joe Mazzello. (See proof below) Your mom gave me your phone number. She has not changed. _

 

There was a picture of Joe with a goofy wide smile. This was the last thing you expected. Your mom told you she gave him your number about 2 months ago. He started following you on Instagram about a week later. You hadn’t heard from him. No text, no call, no Instagram like or comment. You had figured he had decided not to contact you.

 

_ Y/N to JM- Hello! Do I even want to know what she said to you?” _

 

Your mom had told you Joe had come to the house and left with eggs and your phone number. She didn’t include anything she said to him. 

 

_ JM to Y/N- Haha probably not. You told me once to contact you if I was in France. I’m close. I’m in London. Are you home? _

 

_ Y/N to JM- Sadly no, I’m in Tokyo for work. How long are you in London for? _

 

You tried not getting your hopes up that you’d be able to see him soon. Or at all really. You didn’t want to be disappointed if it didn’t happen. You gave up trying to complete any work. Joe texting back quickly was too distracting

 

_ JM to Y/N - Tokyo? They speak a lot of French there? _

_ JM to Y/N - I’ll be here about a week longer. I have Saturday off. I thought maybe we could meet up here or there. I hear the chunnel is quick. _

 

_ Y/N to JM - It is really quick. I’ll be here two more weeks unfortunately. _

_ Y/N to JM- I am here for my Italian to English skills, not my French. _

 

_ JM to Y/N - That somehow makes less sense. _

 

You started laughing cause you could hear it in Joe’s voice.

 

_ Y/N to JM - The company I work for basically hires out interpreters to international businesses. Our Japanese to Italian interpreter is on maternity leave. I am the next best choice because the Japanese counterparts speak English. The Italian do not speak English very well and zero Japanese. _

 

_ JM to Y/N - When did you learn Italian? you know any other languages? _

 

_ Y/N to JM - University. I am at 4.5 total. English, French, Italian, LSF (French sign language), and I could converse with a Spanish speaking child. I could probably guess close enough if reading Spanish due to it being Latin based like French and Italian. I am going to start learning Portuguese this fall. What are you doing in London?  _

 

_ JM to Y/N - I am fluent is sass and sarcasm. I am having tea right now. _

 

_ Y/N to JM - Sarcasm is a very important life skill. That will come in handy in England. Did you go all the way there for tea and biscuits? _

 

_ JM to Y/N - Look! It’s the language of sass. I’m doing some promotional stuff for a movie I directed. _

 

_ Y/N to JM - CONGRATULATIONS Joe! That’s amazing! I want to hear all about the movie! I really do. It’s late here though. I am 9 hours ahead Sorry! If you have Saturday off, would you want to talk via phone/FaceTime instead of meeting up? If not, that’s cool.  _

 

You had to add in the easy out for him and also yourself. 

 

_ JM to Y/N - I should be able to do that. That sounds good. Do you want me to text you first and see which would work better? _

 

_ Y/N to JM - That sounds great. Congratulations again! Good afternoon/Good night _

 

_ JM to Y/N - Good night _

 

You weren’t sure if you were going to be able to sleep. You were so excited Joe actually contacted you. There was also a possibility of more contact soon.

 

************

 

It was Saturday night and you hadn’t heard from Joe. You had never discussed a time frame so you were just wildly overthinking all the reasons why he hadn’t contacted you yet. You were at a late dinner with your clients trying really hard not to check your phone for text messages. About 9:30 pm it started ringing. You had made the picture Joe sent you the contact picture. You tried not to smile as you excused yourself saying it was mother calling.

“Hi, mom. Is everything okay? It’s the middle of the night at home.”

“Umm this is Joe, not your mom.” Joe sounded very sleepy.

You were now far enough from the table, you figured you were safe. “Okay, Hi Joe! I’m at dinner with my clients. I excused myself. I said my mom was calling.”

“Do you make it a habit of lying to your clients? I feel like I should contact your boss if you do.”

You laughed under your breathe. “Only on special occasions. You sound groggy. You okay?”

“Some of my costars and I went to many pubs last night. I just woke up. Sorry it’s late again for you.”

“We never discussed a time. It’s cool. I just can’t really talk right now. Are you free anytime tomorrow? Or what about in like an hour?”

Joe hummed for a few seconds before saying, “I vaguely remember agreeing to sightseeing last night.”

You laughed at this. “Well enjoy that. I should get back. I am technically sort of working right now. I do still really want to hear about your movie. I don’t know if this is weird, but I’m really proud of you!”

“Thanks, Y/N. My manager was pitching me really hard to some producers yesterday for a movie that would film here. Maybe we can talk in person if that works out.”

“That would be awesome for multiple reasons! Even if you don’t come back soon, you should keep in touch. If you want.” You really hoped he wanted to.

“I’ll do that. Talk to you soon. Get back to work slacker!”

You started to talk back but realized he had hung up on you. You missed his goofiness. Right as you got to the table you got a picture of him clearly hungover but smiling with the text  _ Goodnight, Y/N. _

The next morning you woke up to text from Joe that said  _ is this you? _ With a picture of the Rosetta Stone. Your communication with Joe continued like this for a while. It was very sporadic but about once a week you’d get a goofy text message. You responded in kind. When you saw a dinosaur cafe with robotic dinosaurs all over the place like an adult dino themed Chuck E Cheese you sent a picture to Joe asking if it gave him PTSD. It never quite worked out that you could talk on the phone for more than a few minutes. You were good with the text messages. You were good with having any sort of contact with Joe again. He FaceTimed you on your birthday. You were in Halifax Nova Scotia for little under 24 hours. You knew when you saw the incoming call at 3 am he thought you were in France. Even though you knew you’d look terrible you couldn’t help but answer.

You croaked out “Hello”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!”

“Thanks!” You let out a really big yawn. “You are the first person to say that to me.”

Joe tilted his head on the screen. “Why are you still asleep? I figured you’d be awake by 8 am. Did you take your birthday off?”

“I’m in Nova Scotia for work. It’s 3 am.” You pointed the phone so he could see the clock on the nightstand.

“HOW LONG WILL YOU BE THERE?”

“Why are you yelling?”

He continued at a whisper, “So sorry. How long are you going to be there? I’ll come up.”

“I got here late last night and will be back on a plane about 7 pm.” 

“Can that plane be going south to New York or New Jersey?”

“Mom already tried that. The plane is going back to Japan.” You smiled at how eager he seemed to be to see you.

“I found out yesterday that I’ll be in London for a movie this fall.” 

You sat up at this information, “Really?! Congrats on the role.”

“Thanks! You look shitty.”

You laughed and then pouted a little. “You can’t say that right now because I don’t know if it’s a joke or not.”

He replied softly “I mean it the way I always mean it”

You smile but you can hardly keep your eyes open. You’re falling back asleep.

“Happy Birthday, Y/N. Go back to sleep.”

“Thanks, Joe. Goodnight. Make sure to tell me when you know the dates you’ll be in London.”

“I will. Good night.”

You fall asleep smiling at the thought you should get to see Joe soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's going to see each other again next chapter!!!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally meet back up!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place September 2017   
> Italics are text messages

Joe was sitting in his trailer with his castmates Ben and Gwil. He was taping his toe on the ground nervously while they waited to be called back to set. You were set to arrive any minute. Joe had grown pretty close with his castmates quickly. He gave them a brief history about who you were when he said you were coming for the weekend. 

Ben asked, “Do you have a picture of this girl?”

“The only one I have on my phone is one of us from high school.”

Gwil stuck his foot across the trailer to rest it on Joe’s knee to stop the tapping, “Does she have social media?”

Joe pulled up your Instagram profile and handed it over to Ben and Gwil. “Please don’t accidently like any of her photos and make me look like a creep.”

“Wasn’t going to but now I want to” Ben smirked. Gwil shook his head at Ben and grabbed to phone to prevent this from happening. 

Most of your photos were of places you’ve visited instead of you. There were a few of a cat. Ben finally found what he was looking for. There was a picture of Line, her brother, and you on the beach in Fiji from January. 

“Oi, which one is she?” Ben asked and Gwil turned the phone to show Joe the photo in question.

“Middle”

“She’s right fit, mate. I thought the hot girl next door was just an American movie cliche.”

There was a phone ringing outside the trailer and the guys could almost make out what someone was saying. Gwil peaked out the window.

“I think it’s her. You ready for this? Your hair has looked better.” Gwil’s statement reminded Joe he was currently dressed as 80’s John Deacon. It was not how he would have picked to see you after so long. Joe stood up to go outside. He opened the door. You were standing at the bottom of the steps with your hand extended to knock. You smiled widely up at him. Your smile, and everything about you was even more gorgeous that Joe remembered. Joe rushed down the steps and hugged you fiercely, spinning you around once. A small squeak escaped your mouth.

“Hi Joe!”

Joe put you down but kept his hands on your waist. He couldn’t help but maintaining contact with you. “You look shitty”

You giggled, “and you look ridiculous.” You lifted a hand towards his head. “Can I touch your hair?”

Joe playfully swatted your hand. Gwil laughed and seemed to catch your attention for the first time. 

You laughed more when you took in their appearances.“Oooo this is amazing! Hi, I’m Y/N.”

Gwil stepped forward  to shake your hand “Gwilym. This is not my natural hair.”

You said dryly, “I assumed that.”

Ben put his hand forward. “I’m Ben. We were just looking at your Instagram.”

Joe would get Ben back for that comment later. You looked back at Joe and smiled at him.

“I like your friends.” You were obviously trying not to laugh at Joe’s embarrassment.

Joe really wanted to take you into his trailer and kiss that smirk off your face. He knew that wasn’t his place anymore. It hadn’t been his place for a really long time. This would be a long weekend of trying to restrain himself from showing you affection. One giant smile from you seemed to block out all the hurt you guys caused each other. He just wanted to jump back into the great part.

“Y/N, we have to go back to set for a little bit. Its a closed set. Are you good with just hanging out in the trailer? We shouldn’t be too much longer. Then we’ll come get you and all go to dinner.”

“That sounds great Joe. I have my computer in my bag. I have work I can do till then.” You walked forward and wrapped your arms around his waist, resting your head on his chest. Joe hugged you back and put one of his hands on the back of your head. Both Ben and Gwil were grinning at him. 

You were now inside of the trailer out of earshot. Ben asked, “What was that? We don’t have to be on set. They haven’t come to get us yet.”

Joe was pacing. “I know man. I had get away for a second and not seem rude. All I wanted to do was kiss her.”

“Do it.” Ben was not helpful.

Gwil suggested, “Maybe wait till you’ve been around her more than two minutes, yeah?.”

**********

Your heart was racing. You could still feel where Joe’s arms had been wrapped around you. It was a better greeting than you were expecting. You thought he was looking at you like he wanted to kiss you. That had to be wishful thinking though. You got your phone out to send two texts.

 

_ Y/N to Line - Joe’s still hot. I want to kiss him already. _

_ Line to Y/N - Do it. Then get in his pants. Call me after. _

 

_ Y/N to Mom - I made it to Joe’s set. He still has a cute face. _

_ Mom to Y/N - Make me a grandchild _

**********

At dinner you were joined by Ben, Gwilym and the fourth member of fake Queen you hadn’t met yet, Rami. They were all incredibly nice and seemed to be really good friends already. There was a lot of joking going on a dinner. Gwilym was telling you about how Joe had been chatting up a girl a few nights earlier when Gwilym took off Joe’s Yankee hat to point out the perm Joe currently had for the movie. Everyone but Joe laughed. You tried not to be jealous about Joe flirting.

“Awww Gwilym, you’re depriving the ladies of London of sweet Joseph.”

Ben looked excitedly at you, “Oh right, you have insider information about that.”

“I do!” You turned to Joe. He shook his head at you. “I was the first one that got to experience Joe’s skills.”

Rami reached across Joe to grab your hand resting on the table, “Please tell us everything.” You laughed at this request.

“Please don’t” Joe was just sitting there bright red with his eyes closed and arms crossed on his chest.

You laughed under your breath and put your hand on Joe’s shoulder. “I will tell you this. A lot of my friends had bad first experiences. I feel very lucky. If I was to give a detailed report, it would only include nice things.” Rami clutched over his heart. 

“That’s quite sweet ” Gwilym concluded.

Joe looked at you confused, “What about after?”

You hesitated, “Yeah. I wasn’t talking about that part. I meant the actual sex. After sucked. That was probably the 3rd worst thing that’s happened to me. The part where I lost my virginity to someone that I loved and that loved me is the part I am glad about.

Joe blushed, “That part was good.” He leaned forward and quietly said, “I think I know the 1st worse thing. What’s the second?”

You looked at your lap when you spoke, “When I was at your house about a week later.” You looked over at him and he looked remorseful. 

Joe leaned over and kissed your temple before whispering sorry in your ear. “Wait, you were proposed to but aren’t married.”

“Thanks for bringing that up,” you interjected dryly.

Joe ignores this “And I still get spots 2 and 3? Is it wrong I am a little proud?” 

You scoff, “I’m glad you aren’t getting laid. Gwil, please continue to cockblock him. I can give you embarrassing stories if you need more ammo.”

************

Back in Joe’s hotel room, you are putting your stuff next to the sofa to get ready to sleep.

Joe looked over at you curiously. “What are you doing? You’re the guest. You can take the bed.”

“I don’t have to work tomorrow. You sleep in your own bed.”

“I don’t have to wake up too early. Take the bed.”

You try suggesting what you really want. “What if we both sleep in the bed? We used to sleep in the treehouse all the time.”

Joe blushes but waves his hand to get you to come over to the bed. “Why did your parents let us do that? I also slept in your basement a lot with you on the couch. We were basically adults.”

“There was usually a sibling or two in the basement with us. My mom told me once she figured if you got me pregnant it would be easier with the other grandparents next door. She also knew we weren’t having sex. I would be willing to bet she told your parents that. Or at least your mom.”

“When she gave me your phone number, she told me she’d still be good with me being her son-in-law.”

You scoffed. ”Sounds about right. She’s always liked you. When I text her I made it here, her response was make me a grandchild. I don’t know if she’s better or worse that my friend Line. You remember me telling you about Madeline, the host daughter of the family I stayed with in high school? She told me to get in your pants. Also, I am supposed to grab Roger Taylor for her. Can you help me with that?”

‘He’s married.”

“Yeah, she’s good with that. She said she figures his wife is hot. Line is basically a constantly horny bisexual version of my mom”

Joe laughed at that description. “I’m not asking Roger Taylor to have a threesome with your friend and his wife.”

“That’s fair. I’m going to brush my teeth.” You and Joe talked until you both fell asleep. It felt like you had your best friend back finally. Your best friend who had only gotten sexier and who’s clothes you really wanted to take off.

In the morning you wake up holding hands with Joe. It’s just like when you were 17 and accidentally purposely fell asleep in the treehouse all the time. You can practically feel yourself falling for him again. Joe’s eyes are closed but he starts talking.

“Why do we always wake up holding hands?”

“I don’t know. We were best friends. Friends hold hands sometimes?”

“You were more than my best friend.” He opens his eyes and looks at you softly. You consider leaning forward and kissing him. He sits up a little and lifts his heads towards the side of your face.

“What are you doing?”

“Are those the earrings I got you?”

They are now in your second ear piercing that wasn’t there in high school. “Yeah, they practically live in my ears. They are the perfect everyday size.” Your face gets warm. Hopefully this doesn’t seem weird to him.

He lays back down but reaches out and gently holds the earring he bought, “Are the pearl earrings from someone, I mean something significant?”

“They were my aunt Charlotte’s. She actually left me all her stuff. I just moved into her old apartment. Her parents had lived there but the stairs were becoming too much.”

“I’d like to see that if I get any days off. Maybe after I’m done filming.”

“That would be great, Joe. I’d like that. I can give you a tour of Paris.” You phone started ringing from the night stand. “It’s Line” You answer her call.

“Salut”

“Is his penis as good as you remember?” You turn to look at Joe who is cracking up.

“Line! Parle français! Il peut t’ententdre.”

“Oh good! Put me on speaker though.”

“Je ne préfère pas.”  She doesn’t say anything back so you give in. “You are now on speaker phone.” You mouth sorry to Joe who looks delighted.

“Joe, I am sure you know that our dear Y/N has told me everything about you. I love you and I hate you a little bit too. Y/N was very excited to see you, so I am going to forgive you.”

You interrupt, “Juste ferme ta putain de gueule?”

“Please excuse her language. Could you please fuck our friend? She could use a good dicking.”

You hang up on her. Your whole body gets warm. Joe is cracking up. There are tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. You turn and bury your face in the pillow.

Joe finally stops laughing, “You could use a good dicking?”

You mumble into the pillow, still too embarrassed to look at him, “She would also say she could use a good dicking 10 minutes after receiving one. Please ignore her.”

“What did you say to her in French? Why does she hate me?”

“I told her to shut her fucking mouth. She’s essentially my sister. She’s seen me cry about you.” You finally turn and face him.

“Yeah. I think your brothers feel the same way. Ryan punched me really hard in the shoulder once.”

“WHEN WAS THIS? I did not know that”

“Before I went to college. You were gone already.”

“I should probably say sorry about that, but I’m not sure that I fully am.” Joe fakes an offended expression then reached over and started tickling you. He finally stops when you are breathless. “I will tell you I didn’t ask him to hit you. I also didn’t tell him anything that happened.”

“Your mom probably told him. Your family talks about EVERYTHING!”

“Oh! I know they do! Aiden text the entire family when he had sex the first time. I THINK maybe it was just supposed to be just to the siblings. But yeah, we had a whole family discussion about it. Jackson was pissed he was the last virgin in the family.”

Joe looked over at you like he was up to something, “I really want to send a picture of you in my bed to someone in your family and then watch your phone blow up.”

“NO!” You laugh knowing that is exactly what would happen.

“FINE! I have to go to set now for some photos anyways. I can’t give you a good dicking right now.” He kissed your forehead and got out of bed.

************

The rest of the weekend was great. You spent most of Saturday afternoon catching up. Filling each other in on the last 16 years. It felt just like being back in the treehouse or one of your basements with him. Joe would be slightly flirty and affectionate with you. You could feel the tension building more and more as the weekend progressed. When you were getting ready to shower Sunday morning before going to lunch with his friends, you were feeling brave and left the bathroom door unlatched and just slightly open. You were hoping he would see the invitation to join you. He didn’t though. You took your suitcase with you to lunch since you were leaving for the train station from there. Once lunch is about done, Joe gets up and goes to the bathroom. 

In Joe’s absence Gwil asks you, “May I ask why he tells you you look shitty and you take it as a compliment? He said it when you arrived and last night.”

You laugh realizing how weird it probably seems. “I don’t know. It’s Joe. He’s always done that. The first time he said it we weren’t together but had kissed a couple times. I was mad at him and he mumbled you look pretty to me. I was going to make him say it louder. He said you look shitty instead. I laughed and it stuck.”

Ben told you, “That’s great. Are you going to join us for his birthday?”

You think about what you have going on this week. “I think I could actually do that. If he wants me to come back that soon.”

Ben looks over at Gwil knowingly, “Oh he’ll be good with it.” 

Joe returned, “What did I miss?”

Gwil told him, “Ben just invited Y/N back for your birthday Thursday.”

Joe turns to you very excited, “Can you come? Can you just stay till then?”

HIs excitement at the prospect of you coming back so soon warms your heart. “I have a couple meetings I need to attend in person tomorrow and Tuesday. I also don’t have enough clothes. I can come back Thursday afternoon though. I should actually get going so I don’t miss my train. It was really nice meeting you guys.” You get up to hug the boys goodbye.

“Joe does not know all the details but it would be best if you bring something pretty dressy back with you.” Gwilym whispers to you when you hug him. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you to the station?” Joe asks

“Yes. Stand up and hug me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” 

When Joe is pulling back from the hug, he seems to try and imitate the double cheek kiss Ben did when he said bye you to. The second kiss lands mostly on your mouth though. He sheepishly sits down afterwards. 

You look at him incredulously, “what was that?”

“Old habit?” 

“Old habit! We haven’t kissed in 16 years.” 

Joe just shrugs. You look at him for a few seconds before you decide what you’re going to do. You hook a finger under his chin, lean down, and turn his head to you. You kiss him on purpose twice. The second time your lips are slightly parted and he kisses you back that time. It’s his turn to stare at you.

You explain, “I didn’t want our last kiss to be some lame half accident.” You wink at him. “See you boys Thursday.”

As you are walking off you hear Ben say, “I like your girlfriend,” and a huge grin beams on your face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't figure out how to do the superscript to put in translations for the French.  
> Salut - Hi  
> Parle français! Il peut t’ententdre - Speak French! He can hear you.  
> Je ne préfère pas - I prefer not to  
> Juste ferme ta putain de gueule? - Shut your fucking mouth (basically)


	15. Chapter 15

When you got to London on Thursday afternoon, Joe had sent you a text that he was filming all day. They would be there right until the last minute. He sent lots of apologies and asked if you could meet them at the pub. He had called his hotel and there was a key waiting for you. You took a long bath in the largest tub you had ever been in. It gave you dirty thoughts of getting Joe in the tub with you. You put your head under the water to try and clear them. You didn’t know if he wanted anything like that. You also hadn’t decided if that was a good idea. When you left Sunday and he kissed you back, it was like it reignited the ember of feelings for him that never fully died out. After your bath, you took your time getting ready so you hopefully looked extra good. You got stuck in traffic on your way to meet them so they beat you there. When you walked in, Joe stood from his seat to great you.

“Fuck Y/N, you look shittier than 4 days ago.” He hugged you and kissed your cheek.

“Thanks, Joe. Happy Birthday. I left your present at your hotel.” You smiled that your work has paid off. A blonde at the table you hadn’t met slapped his arm.

“Joe, that’s not something you say to a lady. Hi, I’m Lucy.” She extended her hand towards you.

“Hi, Lucy. Nice to meet you. It’s really fine that Joe said that. It’s a long story, but I like it.”

Joe made Ben scoot over a chair so you could sit next to him. You start up a conversation with Lucy. She had complimented your bracelet, it was on loan to you from Line. You told Lucy about how Line works in fashion so you basically just shop from her closet. You liked Lucy right away. Conversation was so easy with her. It was like you had known each other for years. You tell her to come hang out with you and Line the next time she’s in Paris. 

Joe interrupts to whisper in your ear, “Can I get you a drink?”

“Vodka soda please.” He kisses your nose and goes to the bar. 

Lucy tells you, “You guys are sweet. How long have you been together?”

“Oh, we aren’t. We were! A long time ago. We reconnected recently. His parents live next to mine. My mom forced my phone number on him a few months ago.”

Lucy tilts her head while looking at Joe’s back up at the bar “Has Joe always been so… Joe?”

You start laughing, “Sorry to laugh at you. That question is so vague and specific at the same time. He’s always been Joe as far as I know. I met him at 17. I cannot express how much I wish I had a cell phone with video back in high school.”

When Joe came back you were caught up in conversation with Rami and Lucy. He placed his forearm on your shoulder and his fingers started playing with your earlobe. You realized he was playing with the earrings he gave you again. You smiled warmly at him. He responded with a wink and moved his arm to drape over your shoulders. Later Lucy and you had gone to the bathroom. When you came back, the group had shifted seats some. Ben was in Lucy’s spot, Gwil was in Ben’s, and some random girl batting her eyelashes obviously at Ben was in yours. You caught Joe and Gwil’s attention, you held your hands up in a “what the hell” motion. Gwil pointed at Ben, then turned the finger to circle his own face and shrugged. You took that to mean your chair got stolen because of Ben’s face. Joe pushed back from the table slightly and patted his lap. You rolled your eyes but took him up on the offer. Once you were on his lap, he put an arm around your waist and rested his chin on your shoulder. 

Gwil apologised, “We can’t help Ben’s handsome face. It draws in girls like moths to a flame.”

“You all have good faces. I’m surprised the table isn’t surrounded by moths.”

Joe spoke and the breath tickled the hair on the back of your neck, “I already have a moth coming back to my room. I’m good.”

You tried using a seductive voice to say, “It's the perm that did it for me. I could only stay away for a few days”

Joe playfully bit your shoulder. Gwil chuckled at this before going to get another round.

Joe wrapped his other arm around your waist. “What is my birthday present?”

“You are just going to have to wait.”

“Can we go get it?”

“You want to leave your own birthday early?”

“The real party is Saturday. This is just dinner. Let’s go”

You got up from Joe’s lap. He shoved you hand away when you tried getting money out to pay for your meal and drinks. He handed Gwil some cash to pay for both yours. Gwil seemed to understand when he saw Joe entwine his fingers with yours.

When you got back to the room Joe was practically bouncing in excitement for his present.

You chuckled at him, “I think you may have too high of expectations for this present. It’s not really that exciting.”

“I don’t care. Gimme” He held out both hands. 

You reached into your bag and handed him the wrapped gift. He instantly tore off the paper and started cracking up. It was the Psycho VHS tape he gave you for your 18th birthday.

“Is this the same tape?”

“Yes. It somehow got packed in my stuff for University. It stayed in my suitcase for YEARS. I found it again recently when I moved and unpacked in my new place.”

“I don’t even own a VCR anymore.”

“I think that old TV is still in our garage. I’m sure my dad would give it to you just to get rid of it.”

“Oh, I’m taking that thing. We are watching this the next time you’re home.”

You smile at the thought of that but have no idea when that will be. Joe kisses your forehead and goes in bathroom. You can hear him brushing his teeth. It gives you another idea. You hop up and sit on the bathroom counter watching him brush his teeth. You rub the side of his leg with your foot to get his attention. He spits out the toothpaste and looks over to you.

“You remember your 18th birthday and the train?”

He stands in front of you and rubs his hands up your thighs and under your skirt. You wish you weren’t wearing tights so you could feel his hands on your skin. He walks forwards, pushing your legs apart till he’s against the counter between them, and his hands are at your hips under your skirt.

“What are you doing, Y/N?” Joe looks down at you intensely.

“What am I doing? I just asked you a question. You’re the one with your hands up my skirt.” You tease him before you place your hands on his chest.

Joe rests his forehead against yours. “I don’t know if I can keep myself from kissing you much longer.”

“Then don’t”

He kisses you deeply. It’s better than you remember. He grips your hips and you move your hands to the back of his neck.

He slightly pulls back, “Y/N, is this a good idea?”

“Probably not. How about just for 5 minutes since it’s your birthday.”

“5 minutes sounds reasonable.” He moves one hand to your face and kisses you again. You make out with a passion that had been pent up since you first saw him last week. Probably since you last kissed 16 years ago. When you wrap your legs around his waist, he pulls back from you.

“That was probably 5 minutes. We should probably stop before more happens.”

“It was a good five minutes. Move please. I need to brush my teeth too.”

Joe kisses you again quickly then moves so you can get down. You look in your makeup bag on the counter for your toothpaste.

“Damn it. I didn’t bring toothpaste.”

“Use mine” he points at the tube before going into the bedroom.

You smile at how domestic that seems. You get a mental picture of sharing a bathroom with him all the time. You curse yourself for getting carried away. Five minutes of making out doesn’t equal a relationship. 

In the morning, you are holding Joe’s hand again. The only difference is that you’re also spooning. You decide to try and go back to sleep. You then feel Joe kissing the back your neck. You hum and lean into it. Joe pulls you in closer to him and kisses towards your ear.

“Y/N, you think I could get another 5 minutes before I go to work?”

You giggle, “It’s not your birthday anymore.” You turn onto your back so you can look at him.

He cups your cheek, “what if we just kiss in 5 minute increments. Reduces the risk of us getting carried away?”

You rub your nose against his to tease him a little, “I can get on board with this. How long is between these 5 minutes sessions?”

Joe kisses your cheek slowly, “We should probably limit ourselves to one an hour.”

“Can I ask why you think anything happening between us is a bad idea?”

“You remember what happened. I don’t know about you but your face and the sound of you crying is burned into my brain. I cried too, on the other side of the door.”

You turn your head and brush his cheek with your hand gently. You place a light kiss on his lips. Hopefully he recognizes this as a small apology for causing those tears. You take a deep breath, “you should know before any 5 minute sessions happen, I have resurfacing feelings for you.”

Joe’s eyes light up and he lightly tickles your side, “Resurfacing?” He crawls on top of you. “You still like me” Joe kisses your neck. “You have a crush on me”

You don’t know why but you’re slightly embarrassed. You tell him to shut up and go to push him off you. He caresses your face and comes down for a kiss. You gladly accept it. After about 5 minutes of kissing you, he sighs and rolls off of you.

“I would agree with you about resurfacing feelings. It’s also why I am limiting myself to 5 minutes of you.”

“I’m still here though. I can still touch you.” You roll over on top of him. You push your hips against his as you straddle him. You brush your lips against his jaw from under his ear to his chin, from his chin you move up to hover your mouth right above his. You can feel your lips touch his as you say “Oh, too bad it hasn’t been a hour,” and roll off the opposite direction you came from and get off the bed.

“Oh you tease” Joe gets up and playfully chases you towards the bathroom. He grabs your waist and turns you around. He backs you up against wall and kisses you intensely. “Deduct 15 seconds from my next session.”

The 5 minutes sessions get more intense each time. He almost takes your shirt off Friday evening when you guys are getting ready to go to sleep. He stops right before your breasts are exposed and apologizes to you.

“You know Joe, you did feel me up before we were together in high school.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I’m good with it if you want to.” He moves to take off your shirt again. You slap his hand away.

“You said you were good with it?”

“Your 5 minutes are up. Gotta wait” You smirk at him, kiss his lips and go get into bed. You hear him groaning as he gets into bed. He cuddles up against you and puts his hand over yours. 

 

In the middle of the night you wake to him kissing your neck. 

“It’s been at least an hour Y/N”

“It has. It’s probably been 2. Does that mean you’ll give me 10 minutes?”

He snakes a hand around your waist under your shirt. “I think maybe we should play it safe with 6 minutes. Can I?” His hand is rubbing right under your breasts. 

“Yes” You turn and kiss him. He hand covers your left breasts and he gently plays with your nipple. He kisses to your ear.

“This one feels better than I remember. Has your other boob gotten better or worse?”  You giggle as he straddles you and moves his other hand to your right breast and repeats the same motion on it.

He has a very serious tone, “Y/N. I can’t tell. I may need a visual inspection.”

“Joe, the lights are off”

“Good point. Perhaps an oral inspection then.” You giggle again and then removed your shirt. 

“You are perfect Y/N” He kisses your lips and then kisses his way to your breasts. He spends a few minutes kissing and sucking on each one. Then kisses back up to your mouth with his arms wrapped underneath you.

“That was more than 6 minutes, Joe.” 

He kisses your lips, “Probably more like 15. I am so sorry.” He doesn’t sound remotely sorry. He kisses you again. “I promise I will let you sleep for 3 hours now”

You kiss him, “you’re forgiven then.”

He nuzzles his face between your breasts, “May I sleep here?”

You run your fingers through his hair and playfully say “No”

“Boo!” He hands you your shirt and snuggles behind you to spoon you after you put it back on.

“So sorry Joe. This is slightly more comfortable to me than both your arms under the middle of my back.” 

He kisses the back of your neck, “I adore you. I hope that’s okay”

“I hope it’s okay that I adore you back.”

“When can you come back next?”

“You want me to come back? What if I annoy you tomorrow?”

“Of course I do and that’s not possible.”

“Sunday evening I fly to Tokyo again for a week and a half. I’ll have to stop by my house. I should be able to come back after that. I may have to bring work with me.”

“Just as long as you come back.”

“I will” and just like that you are back in love with Joe. 


	16. Chapter 16

Saturday evening you are just finishing up getting ready to go out for Joe’s more formal birthday celebration. You raided Line’s closet for the sexiest, yet sophisticated dress you could find. Based Joe’s reaction, you were successful in looking hot. His jaw literally dropped when you came out of the bathroom. He picks you up and practically threw you on the bed. He hovered over you to kiss you.

“Joe! Lipstick!” You turned your head away from him.

“When has that ever stopped me” Joe kisses you until someone knocks on the door. It’s Ben.

“You’re wearing lipstick, mate.”

“Do you think it’s an okay color on me?”

“It looks better on Y/N. Hi, Y/N”

You sit up from your position on the bed, “Hi Ben, you look nice”

Joe turns to you and looks so offended you complimented his friend. “ You didn’t tell me I look nice.”

“I’ll show you later how nice you look” You wink at him.

 

After dinner when you are all pretty wine tipsy, the group goes to a club to go dancing. In the middle of dancing, Joe taps his wrist at an imaginary watch and pulls you off to a dark corner to make out. Joe has you pinned against the wall and you have one leg hitched on his hip. Gwil comes across you guys while trying to hear someone he’s on the phone with. Joe notices Gwil, and casually leans against wall next you to. Gwil hangs up. Joe tries looking innocent.

“Hey man, what’s up?”Joe has lipstick on his mouth again.

“Can I borrow Y/N for a minute?” 

“Sure Gwil. See you guys back out there.” Joe kisses you, gives both you and Gwil a quick playful slap on the ass, and walks back to the dance floor. You just stare at Gwil waiting for him to talk. You aren’t sure what he needs to borrow you for.

Gwil looks behind him to see how far away Joe is, “Y/N, I feel a bit rude asking you this, but what do you think you’re doing?”

Your eyebrows knit together. “What do you mean?”

“Are you going to hurt my friend again?

You look at the ground, “I am going to do my best not to.”

“From what I have gathered is he was crushed the last time you left him.”

“Gwil, it crushed both of us. I didn’t want to leave him last time. That was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. I know this could end in an epic disaster like the last time. It could also end better, or possibly not end at all. We are adults now. We are probably better equipped to talk about what to do. Even if it does go badly, which I am going to try and do everything to avoid, I’ll go through that again because it’s Joe. 5 minutes with him is worth that heartbreak. I adore him.”

Gwil seems to accept your answer. He smiles at you, “Adore is the French word for love.”

“Is it?” You quipped.

 

************

 

The next morning your alarm is set for 8 am. You have to get home and grab your other already packed suitcase to get on a plane to Tokyo for work that evening. You are confused when Joe’s alarm goes off at 7:30.

You grumble, “Why is your alarm going off? You don’t have to go anywhere.”

“I didn’t know if you allotted anytime for me to give you a proper goodbye or any 5 minute increments” He starts kissing and sucking on your neck.

You moaned before you realizing this could be bad. “Don’t you dare leave marks! It is NOT appropriate for me to show up at work with hickeys covering my neck.”

“I’ll do other things with my 5 minutes then. You know. I can accomplish a lot in five minutes” His hand is playing with the band of underwear. 

You hummed, “You prepared to prove that, Joseph?”

Joe moves his hand under your panties and towards your center. You move your legs apart of allow him access. He slowly circles your clit. He kisses your lips then speaks against them, “I know a lot more about how important the clit is now.”

You breath heavy, “I can feel that”

He switches to use his thumb to play your clit and runs a finger up and down your entrance teasing you. He slowly pushed two fingers deep into you. 

You moan, “Fuck Joe”

“I’ll do that next time you visit” He presses his fingers against your front wall and slowly drags them back out causing you to arch your back. He takes his time building up his pace. Your hips are moving with his hand so he can hit deeper.

“Joe, that spot, right there, I'm going to cum”

He completely removes his hands from you and rolls onto his back. “I think that was probably 5 minutes.”

“You jerk! Get back here and finish what you started.”

Joe  laughs then scoots down and his chin is resting on your hip. He has a shit eating grin on his face. “I’d be willing to give you 2 more minutes. If you ask nicely.”

You put on your best bedroom eyes, card a hand through his hair and ask,”May I pretty please get 3 more minutes? I’ll be very nice to you after”

“3 minutes? Greedy. I like it!” Joe kisses your hip and pulls down your underwear. Joe starts kissing from one of your hip bones to the other slowly.

“You are wasting time, Joe”

Joe is still chuckling at your impatience as he puts his face between your legs. He starts kissing your inner thigh while making eye contact with you.

“Please Joe”

“As you wish” Joe swipes his tongue up your glistening pussy and flicks your nub before sucking on it. He sucks harder on your clit as he re-inserts his fingers. You get back to the point of orgasm quickly from the combination of Joe’s mouth and fingers. Probably due mostly to the fact they belong to Joe. You grab onto Joe’s hair as his rubs matching circles on your g-spot with his fingers and clit with his tongue pushing you over the edge moaning his name. You are panting hard as you come down from your high.

Joe pats your thigh with the hand that is wrapped around your thigh. His mouth and chin are covered with your wetness, he smirks, “You okay there, baby?”

You rub your face, “I may need you to carry me into the shower so I can wash the orgasm sweat smell off me.”

Joe pulls a devilish grin, slides off the end of the bed and grabs your ankles. He pulls you to the end of the bed and flings you over his shoulder. You start cracking up as he carries you to the bathroom. Joe slaps your ass playfull, “stop squirming. I don’t want to drop you.” Joe lightly puts you on your feet in front of the shower. You remove the shirt you stole from him to sleep in. You’re now standing completely naked in front of him. He bites his bottom lips as he takes in the slight.

“Now Joe. We are going to do some multitasking. I am going to need you to take off your clothes, or I can do it, and get into the shower with me.” You turn the water on then move to take his shirt off.

Joe licks his lips, “Y/N, you have a flight to catch. In another country. We don’t have time for shower sex. As much as I would love that.”

You smile and shake your head at him, “We aren’t going to have shower sex. I need to wash my hair. I also really really want to get my mouth around your cock.” You walk forward and palm his obvious erection through his boxer briefs. “I thought maybe you could wash my hair for me while I work on this for you.”

“Dear god yes! I’ll do my best not to let shampoo get in your eyes.”

You laugh under your breath, “yeah, I’d appreciate that. Might ruin the moment.” You feel the water to make sure it’s a good temp and step into the shower stall. You wag your finger to get Joe to join you. He eagerly removes his clothing, steps in, and pulls to shower door closed behind him. He comes at you to kiss you with so much enthusiasm you have to take to step back so you don’t fall over. He presses you against the shower wall and you can feel his dick twitching against your stomach. You gently push him off you and hand him the shampoo bottle. You place one hand on the side of his neck and kiss the other side. With your free hand you reach into between you and rub your thumb over the tip of his cock. A soft moan leaves Joe’s mouth. You kiss down his chest and abdomen as you get on your knees in front of him. You kiss from the base of his hard length to the tip. Joe’s head falls back when you run your tongue in his slit. You start sucking on just the tip, slowly adding more and more length into your mouth. You relax your jaw so you can take in as much of him as you can. You hear your name leave his lips with extreme pleasure. You pull back so you can focus on the tip. You use one hand to pump along his base while sucking on the end. Joe has his hands in your hair, you notice there is no shampoo. You decide to ignore that since he has started thrusting into your mouth. 

“Y/N, your mouth feels so good. ‘M close”

There is a pop as you take your mouth off him, “Cum for me” You put as much of him back in your mouth as you can. After a few more pumps of your mouth, Joe releases down the back of your throat. As soon as you stand, he is kissing you passionately again. 

“Sorry, I got distracted from washing your hair.”

You chuckle, “It’s okay as long as you enjoyed yourself”

“I really did” Joe winks at you. He picks the shampoo bottle back up and puts some in your hair. It feels so good when he massages it in, you close your eyes. You step under the water more to let it rise out. Joe squirts body wash onto your loofah. He picks up your arm and slowly rubs the loofah up towards your shoulder. He follows it’s path with his mouth, placing open mouthed kisses all the way up. He continues this up to your neck, across your collar bones and down the other arm. He then comes back to your chest and does the same down your front. He kneels down and stops to suck on your extreme upper thigh right where it curves to become your inner thigh. You shake your head at him when he leaves a mark there. He twirls his finger motioning you to turn around. He makes his way back up your backside. A startled squeal leaves your lips when he literally bites your ass. When he is at the back of your neck, he asks, “Is there any chance you can stay?”

“Believe me, I would if I could.” You turn around and kiss him before turning off the water. 

 

When you are dried off, you realize you only have enough time to get dressed before you have to leave. When you are putting on shoes, you notice Joe is too.

“Why are you putting on shoes?”

He looks at you confused, “I’m coming with you to the train station.”

“Why? You don’t need to do that.”

He rolls his eyes at you, “Don’t be absurd. It’s rude enough I haven’t picked you up either time, or dropped you off last time.” Joe walks towards you, kisses you, and then takes your suitcase from you.

 

At the train station, Joe is holding onto your hips gently. He has a rare timid expression on his face. “Is it okay if I call and text you everyday?” 

You kiss him deeper than you usually would in public, “I’d love that Joe. You don’t have to ask. I want you to hear from you. I am planning on texting you so much you get annoyed.” You hug him and bury your face in his neck. You worry that his asking if he can contact you is coming from a place of fear. Is he still worried you’ll hurt each other again? Maybe he said something to Gwilym and that’s why Gwilym questioned what you were doing.

“When can you come back?” Joe runs a hand through your hair.

“I should be able to Friday after next. If I can convince Line to pack a suitcase for me, I might be able to come really late that Thursday.”

“Tell her I will bribe her to help get you back to me quicker. Here, in case our schedules don’t quite line up when you return.” He slips a hotel key into your hand. You bite your lip and smile up at him. You put your hand on the side of his face wondering if you should tell him you love him again. You settle for telling him you’ll miss him.

“I’ll get back as soon as I can Joe.” 

“You don’t have to wear clothes when you come back if you don’t want to. I won’t mind. Then you wouldn’t have to stop and get a different clothes.”

You roll your eyes at him, “I will keep that in mind.”

Joe kisses you softly, “Let me know that you make your various flights and when you land in Tokyo. I’ll miss you baby”

“I’ll miss you too.” You tap your lips with index finger to get him to kiss you one last time.


	17. Chapter 17

You had told Joe you didn’t think you’d make the last train to London because you wanted to surprise him. You felt slightly guilty because he sounded sad on the phone. You ended up entering the hotel lobby right after him, Ben, Rami, Lucy, and Gwilym. Gwil is standing on the end so you sneak up to walk next to him and touch his elbow to get his attention. When Gwil says your name to greet you, Joe starts talking about you.

“I really should have bribed Y/N’s friend to pack for her. I’ve gotten attached again too quickly. I may need one of you to cuddle me tonight in her absence.”

Lucy laughs, “I nominate Ben.”

Gwil nudges you so you say, “I can do it if you really want.”

Joe makes a really awkward surprised noise, pushes Ben out of the way, and takes 3 large steps to embrace you. For the first time since you’ve started visited him, he greets you with a kiss, and open mouthed one at that. 

You hug him, “I’m sorry I lied about not making it tonight. I wanted to surprise you.”

“I’ll forgive you if you spoon me.” You laugh and get into the elevator with the group.

“Oh Lucy” you turn to her, “That bracelet you liked. Turns out Line has 5 of them for some reason. I stole two. I have one for you.” You lean over to get the bracelet out of a small pocket of your suitcase. When you are bent over, Joe openly gropes your ass.

You reprimand him teasingly, “Joseph, there are people around!”

He yells, “I haven’t gotten to touch you in 2 weeks. I can’t wait any longer!”

You shake your head at him and wrap your arms around his waist after you hand Lucy the bracelet.

When the elevator doors open, Joe practically runs down the hall to his room. He stops in front of his door, “baby, walk faster!” 

You mumble to the others, “I might have too strong of jet lag for Joe”

Rami places a hand on you shoulder, “I really hope that’s true because my room is next to yours.”

“I am going apologize in advance for anything you hear Rami” you wink at him.  Gwil offers Rami the couch in his room across the hall. 

Inside the room, Joe takes your suitcase from you and places it on the dresser for you. When you are opening it to get your bathroom stuff out so you can brush your teeth, Joe stands behind you and wraps his arms around your waist. You sigh and lean back on his chest as he starts kissing your neck.

“Y/N, I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for making it tonight.”

You turn to face him and wrap your arms around his neck. “I wanted to get in as much time with you as I could. Even if it’s just sleeping time.”

“Did Madeline pack your bag for you?”

“She did. She told me if I don’t get laid in the outfits she packed me, I have only myself to blame.”

Joe laughs at this, “Tell her thank you from me in advance then. You don’t really need help though. You looked gorgeous in my plain tshirt when you were here last time. Speaking of…” Joe steps beside you and opens a dresser drawer. He hands you a tshirt, “I’m guessing you have jetlag and would like to sleep.”

“My excitement to get here has been keeping me going. I am pushing being awake for about 28 hours though.” You turn around to get shorts out of your suitcase to sleep in. You move a sweater that is laying on top. Underneath it is multiple boxes of condoms. You make an exasperated noise, “Hey Joe, you know how I said Line was a horny version of my mother? Look what she packed me”

Joe cracks up, “Apparently she wants us to be very busy. What’s going on with the neon box?” Joe grabs one of the boxes. You take it from him to read the French writing.

“Oh, they glow in the dark. That seems necessary.”

Joe wiggles his eyebrows at you, “sounds fun!”

 

When you lie down in bed next to Joe, he instantly wraps his arms around you. He kisses you and whispers, “I missed you so much”

You tease, “You missed me? We talked in some way everyday. It was 3 weeks. You were so busy filming. How’d you have time to miss me?”

Joe kisses your cheek, “I was away from you for 16 years. I haven’t gotten my fill of you again yet.”

“Ohhh that’s a damn good line.”

“Truth, not a line.” Joe kisses your lips again, this time sliding his tongue against yours.

“I missed you too. This time and the 16 years. Do you know how many things made me think of you and miss you? Orange cats like Pancakes, Shakespeare, any trailer for a scary movie, sometimes movies in general, hotels with bad carpet that made me think of The Shining and then watching that with you in the treehouse and cuddling in your chest. Do you know how many hotels I’ve been in for work? Almost all of them have shitty carpeting.”

“Y/N, I couldn’t eat French bread. BREAD! Delicious bread!!”

Your whole body is shaking with laughter, “I guarantee there is better bread in France. You’re just going to have to come see me and have real French baguettes. You’ll realize you weren’t missing out.”

“I was missing out on you.”

You hum and roll on top of him to kiss him. He cups your face in both his hands, “I have something I want to say to you but don’t know if I should.”

“You don’t have to hold anything back. Holding ourselves back on kissing each other worked  _ real _ well. That orgasm you gave me wasn’t from kissing.”

Joe reasons, “I was using my mouth.”

You giggle, “not just your mouth.” You can feel your jetlag making you slap happy.

Joe runs a hand down your back and settles it in the waistband of your shorts. “Y/N, I have significant words to say to you.”

You feign shock, “significant words? Are they feelings or just words?”

“I’m being serious for a minute. This is hard for me. It didn’t go well last time I said them to you.”

You take a deep breath and realize he feels the same about you as you do for him. You crawl off him and reach over to turn on the light on the nightstand. You sit up facing him, “I want to see you when I say this to you.” Joe sits up to look you in the eyes, you place a hand on his cheek, “this is a serious thing. I love you Joseph Mazzello.”

Joe reaches forward and pulls you with him when he falls onto his back. He starts kissing you. You can tell he’s been holding you back the other times he’s kissed you since your reunion. You are both pouring all your feelings into the kisses. He rolls you over and pushes the hair out of your face while he looks down at you.

“I love you too, Y/N.” He kisses you more. “Are we being stupid? We live in different countries.”

You wrap your legs around his legs. “I don’t think telling someone how you feel about them is ever a stupid thing to do. There are just some conversations we need to have about what those feelings mean.”

Joe kisses you again and you yawn into his mouth. He laughs, “I guess I will show you how much I love you tomorrow.” He re-positions himself so his head is on the pillows again. You curl up against him with your head on his chest.

“Yeah, I don’t think me falling asleep during sex would go over well.”

Joe hums, “Yeah, that too.”

You look up at him, “What were you talking about?”

Joe reaches over and turns off the light, “Nothing. I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”

“Just to be clear, you are talking about something other than your penis.”

Joe kisses your forehead, “yes. I would really like to give that to you as well though. But I saw something in a store window last week when I was out with Lucy. I knew I had to get it for you. It is not a penis nor phallic shaped.”

Your interest is piqued, “What is it?”

“You’re tired. You can open it tomorrow.”

You grumble and snuggle back into his chest.

After about 20 seconds Joe huffs, “I can’t wait.” He gets out of bed and gets a small box out of a dresser drawer. He turns the light on again. He hands you a small velvet box with a ribbon tied around it. You open the box to find a thin chain with a pendant. It’s 3 tiny rubies forming a triangle with a pearl below them. It’s perfect and a few silent tears falls down your face. 

“Are those happy tears?” Joe ask tentatively.

“Yes.” You sniffle, “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Your reaction says otherwise. Hold it up to your earrings. Does the pearl match the color of your earrings? If not, we can exchange it for a better match.”  Joe lightly lifts the box from your hand and compares it to the earrings of your aunt Charlotte’s in your ears. “I think they are a match. Rubies look the same color too. You really wear those everyday? They didn’t make you think of me more than shitty carpet?”

You laugh, “Of course they did. Always in a good way though. Thank you for the necklace Joe.” You take his hand in yours, “I really do love you. Even without you buying me jewelry.”

“I know I don’t need to. I just couldn’t imagine you not having it after I saw it. I sort of explained to Lucy the significance of the necklace. She didn’t understand why I was so excited about it. I hope that’s okay. I know you don’t talk about Charlotte. Or it seems like you don’t. You’ve only mentioned her a couple of times to me briefly. It seems like you just became her instead of talking about her.”

You squeeze his hand, “It’s fine that you told her. I can tell you about her sometime when I am more awake. You’re pretty much right about me becoming her. Though I can think of one or two things she did that I haven’t.”

“Oh yeah, What are those?”

“I’ll tell you those later too. Can we sleep? I’m so tired” You whine a little bit. 

“Of course we can sleep baby”

You lay down in his arms again. “I love you, Joe”

“I love you too, Y/N”

You fall asleep with Joe thinking about how two things left that Charlotte did that you haven’t are move to New York with a man and marry him. 


	18. Chapter 18

The next morning Joe’s alarm is going off excessively early. You are laying on your back and Joe is half on top of you with his face right next to yours. He hasn’t moved after about 20 seconds so you mumble his name and pat his shoulder. He just nuzzles into your side and pulls you closer to him. 

“Joe, make the noise stop.” He reaches over and turns off the alarm. He plops back down next to you. You close your eyes again to fall back asleep. Suddenly you feel him crawling on top of you. You open your eyes and you can barely make out a mischievous look on his face in the low light. He moves both your hands above your head, holding them there with one hand. You smirk and raise an eyebrow at him. He quickly brings his mouth to your neck while making fake eating noises and is tickling your side with his free hand. He lowers his hips against yours so you can’t squirm away. You are giggling uncontrollably.

Through the laughter you beg, “Joe! Stop! Please. I need to pee. This is not helping”

Joe’s playful bites on your neck turn to open mouthed kisses but he’s still tickling your side, “I’ll stop if you come to set with me.”

You whimper, “but sleep. I don’t have to work. It’s so early”

Joe moves his kisses to your collarbone, “You can sleep in my trailer. When you wake up, you can come watch us film. I’d like you to be there.”

You are confused, “I thought it was a closed set.”

Joe pauses from nipping at your ear lobe. He sounds guilty, “Yeah, I lied about that. Sorry, I was so nervous to be seeing you again. I was also trying not to kiss you. Please come.” Joe releases your hands so he can use the hand that was holding them to cup your face. He kisses your mouth with all the now out in the open feelings he has for you. 

You hum when he frees your mouth, “How can I possibly say no when you kiss me like that?”

“All part of my plan.” He moves off of you and then playfully pushes you almost completely off the bed. “Get up, we’re going to be late.” You squeal jovily at his quick turn from passionate to goofy. 

 

Joe drops you at his trailer with a kiss before going to get his hair and makeup done. You attempt to sleep but your body is still on Tokyo time so thinks it’s mid afternoon. You reach for your makeup bag you brought with you and get ready for the day. Joe returns about an hour later. His wig has tiny short bangs and  the rest is long and wavy.

“Oh Joe, this is so much better than the fluffy hair! Are you wearing satin pants?” You put your phone down and reach forward to rub his leg. He is standing in front of you. His pants are incredibly soft without really thinking about the reaction your motion could cause, you start rubbing your hands up and down the front of Joe’s thighs.

“Umm, I can’t have you do that right now. I need to get to set. I thought you’d be asleep. Do you want to come watch?” He extends a hand to help you from your seat.

You take his hand, “I’d love to.” You follow him out of the trailer. You think he seems taller. You suppress a laugh when you notice it’s because he has heels on. The other boys are also emerging from their trailers. You are looking at the fringe on Ben’s vest but Joe mistakes it for you looking at the blonde’s abs since Ben isn’t wearing a shirt. Joe lifts his thumb to wipe the corner of your mouth.

He jokes, “you’ve got some droll, baby.”

You roll your eyes and slap his hand away, “I don’t go for blondes, I just make them my best friend. Charlotte, Line, maybe I’ll add Bed here to the list. Ooo! Lucy too.” you turn to Ben, “no offense. Congrats on the abs, but I was looking at your fringe.”

Ben gives you a side hug, “I’ll happily be your best friend.”

Joe looks between the two of you and then his jealous eyes settle on you, “I’m your best friend.”

You lift both eyebrows, “Is that what we are? Best Friends?”

Joe’s expression turns very soft, “We were always best friends first.”

You extract yourself from Ben’s arm so you can wrap both arms around Joe’s waist. He kisses your head that is now resting on his chest. 

You murmur to into his chest, “sweet man, I’m sorry I forgot temporarily we are best friends.”

Joe takes one of your hands in his. He has a fake stern look on his face, “We are best friends. Line is your sister. If you want to collect blonde friends, Ben and Lucy can be your second tier best friends.”

You tease back, “You realize this means you also have to be second tier best friends Ben as well.”

Gwilym pipes up, “Right here, yeah. I would like to be someone’s best friend.”

Ben huffs, “I am no one’s second tier. Come on Gwil.” Ben grabs Gwil’s hand and they walk off faster to set. Gwil gives a cheesy smile over his shoulder. Joe stops walking. You don’t notice at first so you stumble a little. Joe has the soft expression back on his face.

“I know we’ve talked a lot about having sex again, but I am glad to have my friend back. I missed just talking to you too. We need to have a very serious conversation about what food product house you’d live in now. We are older and wiser now. Maybe you’ll finally confess crackers would make a terrible house.”

You bite your lip, “I think the pretzel rod house sounds pretty good.” You squeeze his hand. Hopefully he interprets this as you wanting to be  in a house with him. 

Joe smirks down at you, “Took you long enough to realize that with that big brain of yours.” Your jaw drops with fake offense. Joe laughs and kisses your top lip. 

Joe has you sit in his director-style chair while they film. Lucy isn’t in the scene so she sits with you. Joe is completely mesmerizing. The second the filming starts, you notice his natural reactions go away and new ones appear. You are completely transfixed by him until you heard Lucy quietly snickering beside you. You glance over at her when the director calls cut.

You innocently ask, “What?”

“Oh hon, I thought you were all moony-eyed over him before. It’s sweet.”

You tell her bashfully, “I’ve only ever seen the end product. Watching it happen is amazing.” 

Curiously she asks, “Have you kept up with his work?”

You tell you’ve tried but not much has been available overseas. You’re laughing with her as you tell her about crying over his dubbed voice when Joe comes up.

“What are you ladies laughing about?”

Lucy qips, “You”

Joe questionly glares at you, “What did you tell her?”

You look up to the ceiling, “Oh, nothing TOOOOO embarrassing.” Joe growls back at you.

“It’s all good things, Joseph.” You play with the ends of his long hair that are falling down towards you. “I was about to tell her how much I like the necklace you got me.”

Lucy gasps in excitement while Joe’s eyes move down to your neck, “You aren’t wearing it.”

“Maybe I didn’t feel like it after getting shoved out of your bed this morning,” you tease. You really just didn’t have time before leaving.

Joe gets called back to film close up of him playing bass.  Ben isn’t in the shot so he comes and joins sits next you in the chair Lucy has just gotten up from.

You whisper to Ben, “you think they would send me a copy of the close up of his hands for when I have to go home again?” Ben closes his eyes and you apologize for the overshare. Ben looks over at you with concern.

“Have you guys talked about that?”

“Me finding his hands attractive?”

Ben rolls his eyes at you, “About living far part.”

“We’ve talked about how we need to talk about it. We’ve talked about our feelings! That’s it so far.”

Ben smiles, “It’s clear how into each other you are. Do you know what you are prepared to do about living in a different country than Joe?” Rami is now sitting on Ben’s opposite side. He smiles at you warmly. You know Rami and Joe have been good friends for a long time and he’s become incredibly close with Ben and Gwilym. 

“I don’t have any issue with you guys knowing, I just think I should talk about it with Joe first. I will say, I didn’t want to break up back in high school. I’m not blaming Joe, we both made mistakes, but he ended our relationship when I said I chose to go to university in Paris. I do worry if I bring up _ even thinking _ of staying in France, he’s going to bolt on me again. I feel like I’m 18 again having to pick again.”

Rami leans forward to look around Ben, “Y/N, How important is a job, even if you love it, when you don’t come home to the person you love?”

Ben added, “I don’t think you’re quite making the same choice. You’re already educated for what you want to do professionally. You both are. Do either of you need to be in a specific geographic location to continue those professions? I talked some to Joe about you. I made him explain why he was so nervous a few days before you came up the first time. I’d be surprised if he bolts on you.”

Rami says, “Back on the Pacific set, we all started talking about what we would do if we had to go to war. Your name came up.”

You hesitantly ask, “Did my name come up in a good way?”

Rami chuckles, “Why the fuck would I bring it up if it was in a bad way?”

Joe comes back and sits down in your lap. The chair squeaks under both of your weights. You both freeze. It seems to be fine with both of you so you wrap your arms around him and place your head on his back. Ben calls you out immediately.

“Y/N wants porn of your hands playing bass.”

You sarcastically tell him, “Thanks Ben.” 

You all sit around talking for a few minutes before they have to go back and film more. Joe kisses your forehead when he leaves. He waves at someone behind you. You don’t think much of it. You are watching him walk away when you see people in your peripheral vision. When you turn to see who it is, you instantly start sweating. It’s Brian May and Roger Taylor. Roger is sitting down in the chair next to you. He extends a hand to you to introduce himself. 

“Hi, I’m Roger.” You shake his hand.

Brian steps in front of Roger and extends his hand, “I”m Brian”

You finally manage to squeak out “Hi,” followed by a hard swallow, “I’m Y/N. I’m Joe’s….. friend.”

Roger smirks, “You seem very friendly with Joe.”

You think to yourself did Roger Taylor just sass me? You have no idea what to talk to them about. You feel very awkward and just wait for the scene to start filming so you can watch that and not worry if you should be talking. 

Brian interrupts your overthinking, “Y/N, you sound American. Did you fly over to visit Joe?”

“I am American, but I actually live in Paris now. I’ve come up a few times to visit when work allows.”

“That’s very nice of you. What do you do for work?”

Before you can answer, the director calls action so you are unable to. You tell him between takes and then the 3 of you chat about various things. You are slightly able to calm down and become less nervous talking to two legends. After a few takes, Joe and Lucy come over. They both greet Roger and Brian. 

Brain cheerfully tells them, “Great job guys. We’ve been talking with your friend here.”

Joe innocently replies, “She’s my best friend.”

Roger mumbles, “Deaky” to Brian and they smile to each other. You look up at Joe questioningly and notice he’s blushing.   
“Ah, Y/N, would you like to go shopping with Lucy? She’s done for the day. I can hook up with you when I’m done.”

Lucy adds, “I’ve been instructed to make sure you have appropriate clothing for what Joe has planned tomorrow evening.”

You stand up and are practically pressed against Joe who had been standing directly in front of you. “And what do you have planned Joseph?”

He lifts your chin and presses a chaste kiss on your lips, “Don’t worry about that.”

 

You had a good time shopping with Lucy. It felt like you had known her a while. Since Line works in fashion and had packed your suitcase, you were good on clothes. Lucy took you to a few boutiques that are her favorites and you guys just browsed and talked. The last place gave you guys sparkling wine. You decided to get some sexy lingerie to go under the dress you already had with you. You were slightly tipsy from the wine because you had forgotten to eat lunch. When you got back to the hotel, Joe was already in the room. He was sitting in a chair putting shoes on. The anticipation of putting your purchase on for him the next day had you pretty turned on. He looked even hotter than normal. You instantly walked up to the chair and straddled him and started making out with him. Joe made a small ompf noise when you sat down on him without much grace.

You spoke against his lips, “You look so freaking American right now. I love it. I love you.” You removed his Yankee’s hat and put it on yourself backwards so you could have easier access to his mouth.

Joe pulls back from you, places his hands on your hips and tilts his head at you, “Are you drunk? You taste like champagne.” 

You scrunch up your face, “I may have had some sparkling wine at the last place we went.”

He laughs, “So you are drunk.”

You make a small pinching gesture your finger and thumb in front of your eyeball, “un petit peu. May I please remove your clothing?”

He looks at you so gently, “Baby, I love you and everything, but we are not doing that while you’re intoxicated.”

You scoff, “We’ve had sex before. It’s fine.”  You start placing open mouthed kisses on the sensitive part of his neck.

“Please don’t be offended by this because I enjoyed it, but we had about ten thrusts worth of sex 16 years ago.”

You throw your head back with laughter, he kisses the front of your neck while you say, “oh that is so sadly accurate. I just missed you today.”

Joe pulls you in against his chest, “I missed you too. I should have had you stay. How about you and I order room service and hangout here. Watch movies and talk like we used to?”

“Your friends are expecting you. I’m stealing you tomorrow night.”

Joe kisses your cheek, “yeah, but I just want to hang out with my girl. Not that you’re my property or mine or anything.”

You stroke his cheek with your thumb, “Let’s be real Joe. My heart has been yours since we met.”

Joe’s smile at this statement could light up a pitch black room. He gently pats your butt, “Get up. I need to call the guys and tell them we aren’t coming. The room service menu is over on the desk. Go pick out what you want.”

You kiss him one last time before removing yourself from his lap. “You’re a good man, Joe.”

He stands and cups your face in both his hands, “Don’t get me wrong, I am going to pound into you tomorrow night.” You swallow hard and feel wetness instantly pool between your legs at his words. 

After you guys ate, you are sitting on the sofa with your legs draped over Joe’s lap. He has one hand on the back of your neck and the other is playing with your fingers in your lap. The TV is on but you are both sharing stories with each other. Everyone so often he’ll kiss you or you’ll kiss him. You can’t help thinking about how perfect it feels. He called you his girl before. You want to ask him if you guys can be together again. It’s starting to feel like you are. Just as you are about to ask him he gets a weird look on his face and starts sniffing like he’s trying to place a smell. He leans towards you.

“Y/N, you smell terrible! What did you do this afternoon?”

“I do not smell!”

He sniffs all around you. He pulls your top away from your chest and smells your boobs. “Yeah you smell. I think you need a bath.” He then smells his own shirt. “I smell too. We should probably both take a bath.” You try not to laugh at him and roll your eyes. He stands up quickly and then turns around to face you all before you can stand up. 

“Y/N… How far do you want to go tonight?”

You are slightly confused why he’s asking you this until you see him walk over to his mini bar and grab a bottle of Prosecco and two glasses. “You asking while I’m sober?” He nods. “It sounds like you want to wait till tomorrow night to have full on sex. I would like to do everything else. I’d like to get my mouth on you again.” 

Joe looks at you with eyes dark with lust, “I didn’t order dessert. I thought maybe I could just eat you for something sweet.”

“Yes please,” You take the hand he has extended to you. 

 

You are leaning against Joe’s chest and sitting between his legs in the bathtub full of bubbles. You are holding your glass out of the warm water in your right hand and your left is caressing Joe’s thigh, and your head has lolled to the side resting on his right shoulder. He has his glass in his left and his right hand is on your right upper thigh lightly tapping. You feel like you are in heaven. Joe starts kissing your neck gently. You were wrong, this is heaven. You hum as he applies more pressure.

“Baby?” He whispers.

“Yes?” 

“Are you mad I don’t want to have sex tonight? Cause I didn’t fully explain why.”

You slightly turn to him, “Of course I’m not mad, mon cœur. Did I do something that made you think I was?”

He kisses your temple, “No. I just wanted to make sure you know I want you. I just want to explore your body a little more. Know what you like. So I can make you feel good.”

“Joe, I am all for exploring. I am also content just like this. We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to or aren’t ready.”

“Oh, believe me, I am ready. You are just….I am so grateful to have you in my arms. You’re so special to me. I want it to be prefect.”

“Even if it’s just, to use your words, ten more thrusts worth, I’ll find it perfect because its you.”

“Y/N, I’m an adult now. You’re really hot but I’ll make it AT LEAST eleven thrusts.”

You crack up, “Oh, I love you so much”

“I love you too. Let’s go do some exploring.” Joe starts to lead you out of the bathroom when there is a knock on the door to the hotel room. Joe wraps a towel around his waist and goes to see who it is. Joe barely cracks open the door and his highly inebriated friends barge in. The second you hear additional male voices in the room, you dart back into the bathroom.  You figured Joe wouldn’t appreciate his friends seeing ALL of you. The only problem is now that all of your clothes are on the opposite side of the door. 

Ben is incredibly loud right now “Oi, you ditch us to shower alone? Where’s the misses?” You can hear Gwil giggling at nothing as far as you can tell. 

Joe sounds exasperated, “Gwil, she’s not under bed.”

Gwil gasps, “BATHROOM!” You are luckily able to lock to door before he gets to the handle. Gwil starts tapping on the door. It takes you a second to realize it’s the beat to “We Will Rock You”

“Don’t speed up, mate” Ben tells him. 

Gwil is still giggling, “I need in, lady”

You sigh, “I can’t come out.” 

Helpfully Gwil tells you, “Unlock the door first.”

You roll your eyes at his suggestion, “Joe, I don’t have clothes. Can you bring me something?” There is another knock at the door after a few seconds. Both Gwil and Ben reprimand Joe that he’s messing up the song. 

Joe huffs, “What do you guys need? We are a little bit occupied.”

“Are you naked under the towel?”

“Yes, Ben. I am. Get out of the way so I can give Y/N some clothes. Both of you can also leave, you know. Your rooms are just down the hall.”

Gwil offers, “I’ll give Y/N the clothes when I go in.”

Joe pries Gwil’s hand of the door handle, “I don’t think your girlfriend or Y/N would appreciate that. I know Y/N’s boy….” Joe stops talking. You press your ear to the door so you can hear better.

Ben chuckles, “You were going to say boyfriend. You finally get the balls to ask?” 

Gwil leans over to lift Joe’s towel to check, “OooOOOooo, are there balls under here?” You start laughing because you can picture what is happening out there. There is some shuffling noises. 

Joe starts talking again, “okay. Both of you, sit. Stay! Good boys!. Then you hear Joe talking again, he sounds closer, “BEN! Sit!”

“I’m not Frankie, fucker!”

“SIT! I’ll give you a treat if you sit.” Joe raps softly on the bathroom door. “Y/N, it’s just me by the door now. I have clothes.” You try to figure out where you can stand so you aren’t visible in the mirror and still open the door. You aren’t sure where the other boys are and if they’d be able to see in the mirror once the door is cracked. You kneel by the door so only your head can be viewed in the mirror. You unlock the door. Joe comes into the bathroom and closes the door behind him. He starts cracking up when he sees you on the ground.

“WHAT?! I didn’t want your friends to see me.”

Joe pulls you up and kisses your cheek, “You are adorable.” He hands you a sweatshirt of his and a pair of boxers. “I didn’t want to go through your suitcase.”

You tilt your head at him and raise an eyebrow, “boyfriend?”

Joe’s mouth is gapping open but it also looks like he’s smiling at the same time. He moves forward and kisses you. “Let’s get the drunks home first.” You put on Joe’s clothes and go out the sofa. Ben is manspreading more that you have ever seen anyone before on the loveseat. Gwil is laying on his back on the floor in front of the TV with his both hands on his chest. He appears to be asleep. You walk up to him and nudge him with your foot.

“Excuse me Gwil. When I said to keep cockblocking Joe, I didn’t meant with me. How about you go to your own room?” Gwil fake snores as a response. You turn around to see Joe standing over Ben who is now laying down on the loveseat. Ben grabs one of the pillows and cuddles it. Ben huffs, “You ditched us. This is your punishment.” 

You have an idea to get them to leave. You walk up to Joe and take off his shirt. You grab his face and pull it to yours. You start to heavily make out with him. You had thought they would get up and leave. You open your eyes and glance over at Ben. He’s just watching you and Joe like it's an mildly interesting TV show. You pull away and turn to Gwil. He has one eye open, also watching. You pat Joe on the chest, “Your friends are pervs.” You sit on the sofa.

Ben smirks, “Just seeing how far you’d take it.”

Joe puts his shirt back on, lays down on the sofa and puts his head in your lap. You look down fondly at him and wink, “Hey handsome” He closes his eyes and hums when you start playing with his hair. You have one hand placed on Joe’s chest and he places one of his on top of it. Sitting there gazing into each other’s eyes feels like the most intimate thing you and Joe have ever done. You forget the guys are there and just start thinking about how much you love Joe. How being here with him makes you feel like you’re at home. Joe smiles up at you like he can read your mind. You are broken out of your trance by Ben making a noise like he just ate something disgusting.

“This is harder to watch than you guys making out. Right, Gwil?” Ben looks over at Gwil who is having difficulty extracting his phone from his jeans pocket.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m calling my girlfriend.” Gwil gets up and stumbles towards the door. He bumps into the wall, mumbles “rude” at it, and then leaves presumably for his own room. Joe sits up and you curl up against him, wrapping your arms around his waist. Joe pats the sofa on the side opposite him. You’re confused till you realize he’s looking at Ben. Ben is pouting. He finally gets up and sits next to Joe with his arm around Joe’s shoulders. Joe puts the hand not wrapped around you on Ben’s knee. You look up at Joe questionly.

Joe whispers to you, “Ben’s just lonely. He’s not used to being single.”

Ben lightly smacks the back of Joe’s head, “I can hear you, mate.”

“Awww, Ben, do you want me to bring a friend with me next time?”

“Nah, I’m not ready for any of that. When are you coming back?”

“Umm, well, I guess I should probably wait till I’m invited back.”

Joe scoffs, “Gave you a key, you don’t need an invitation.” You push up and kiss his jaw. Apparently this is the final straw for Ben.

“Yeah, ‘M gonna go. Be gentle with him, Y/N.”

The second the door closes behind Ben, Joe pounces on you. His mouth instantly on your neck and his hand is up the back of the boxers you’re wearing and grabbing a handful of your ass.

“Jesus Joe, you in a rush?”

“Mmm, been trying not to get hard since they barged in here”

“Was it difficult when your hand was on Ben’s knee?” Joe nips at your ear at this comment causing you to chuckle. “Them being in here didn’t stop me from getting wet thinking about you.”

“Is that right? Let me check.” Joe moves his hand from your backside around your hip to your heat. You slightly spread your legs to give him better access. He gently runs a finger up and down your slit, slowly opening your folds. He presses his index finger into you excruciatingly slowly up to his last knuckle and removes it. He brings his finger up to his mouth and repeats the motion to his own mouth that he did putting it inside you. You swallow hard and get turned on even more. 

“So wet. All that for me?”

“Of course, Joe.” You press a kiss to his lips as you move your hands under the waistband of his boxers. Your fingers quickly wrap around his hardening cock. Joe’s head drops to your shoulder as you start to pump him. You see his eyelids fluttering as soft moans escape his barely parted mouth.

Between moans Joe barely gets out, “I was…. going to… you distracted me”

You chuckle, “I decided you’re going first. Roll over please.”

He quickly follows your instructions. You pull his boxers down and wiggle yourself in between his legs. You kitten lick up his length. Joe pulls your hair back from your face so he can watch you. You maintain eye contact with him as you circle his red leaking tip with your tongue. He throws his head back and whimpers desperately. The noise only eggs you on to tease him more. You shift your attention to kiss all around his abdomen around where his harden member is resting, getting as close as you can to it without actually touching it. You can see his cock quivering. You blow against the tip and Joe finally begs. 

“Please?”

“Please what?”

“Please suck my dick. I’ll do whatever you want after.” 

You grin at him, “You sure you’re ready?”

“Yes, baby. Please?”

You lick your lips and take as much of his length into your mouth as you can and hollow your cheeks around him as you pull your mouth mostly off of him. You work your mouth up and down him, getting the shaft coated in your saliva. Once it’s lubricated enough, you use one hand to pump him while working the tip between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Joe is a complete mess under you, whining, grabbing your hair and onto the edge of the couch. You can tell by his breathing Joe is getting close. You start slowly taking more and more of him into your mouth so he can release down your throat. Joe starts thrusting up. He tells you he’s close. You tap his hip to signal he can go. You keep working on him until you can swallow every drop he releases. Once you feel him go lax underneath, you pull your mouth of him. Joe looks completely blissed out. You move forward and lay down on his chest. He wraps his arms around you.

“Fuck, you are good at that.”

You giggle, “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

Joe rubbed both hands over his face, “I will, in fact, do whatever you want. I just need a minute.”

You stand up and lean over where he is still laying on the couch catching his breath. “I’ll just be laying in the bed. Naked. Waiting for you. Getting more and more wet in anticipation of you getting your hands on me. And in me.” You place a chaste kiss on his lips. You lick your own lips when you notice he is getting hard again at your words.

You went to the bed and positioned yourself in the middle, head on the pillows, and legs slightly spread. After about a minute you realize Joe hadn’t moved from his spot in the sofa. You called to him worryingly. 

He chuckled, “just seeing how long it would take for you to say something. Less than a minute. Little desperate of you.” He was now peeking his head up over the back of the couch to look at you with a shit eating grin on his face.

You tried not to laugh at him. “Fucker! Get over here! You’re supposed to be doing whatever I want.” You lean up, spread your legs more, and pat in between them where you want him to be.  You hear him mumbling as he walks over “I at least asked you nicely”

“What was that, Joseph?” You quirk an eyebrow up at him.

“I said I can’t wait to tongue fuck you” Joe flung himself into the bed next to you so hard that he bounced. You squealed because you thought he was going to land on top of you when he came down the second time. He rolled over and propped his head on his hand, bent elbow resting on the pillow next to you, like what he had done was just incredibly smooth. Joe winked, “hey baby!” You smiled and shook your head at him before pulling him down to kiss you. He tucked some hair behind your ear and then his hand continued moving from your ear, down your neck and further down. As he moved down your body, he was tracing designs all over your body, around your breasts, circling your hardened nipples. You were pretty sure he wrote “I love you” in cursive on your stomach. Goosebumps were forming wherever his finger touched. He maintained eye contact with you the whole time he was doing this. A sigh left your lips when his hand finally reached were you wanted it most. His eyes widened as he slipped his finger into your dripping wet core. Joe pressed an open mouthed kiss to the sweet spot under your ear. You let your head fall to the side to allow him better access. He sucked on your neck harder while inserting a second finger. He kissed down towards your collarbone while he started to rub your clit with the pad of his thumb. His fingers curved upward while he pumped them. You could hear how wet you were. He shifted his body down so he could continue his oral ministrations on your breasts. You gasped as he nipped at your nipple. You looked down at him only to realize he must have been watching your face the whole time. He winked at you and continued kissing down your body. He was sucking a dark mark on your hip while you ran your fingers through his hair. His fingers and thumb were working some real magic.

“Joe, I’m… ooohhh… going… fuck that’s a good spot… I’m going to cum before your mouth even reaches… holy shit...please”

Joe spoke with his mouth pressed against your inner thigh, “then you may just have to have two orgasms” He slipped a third finger into you and worked on your g-spot, pushing you over the edge. Before you had recovered from your orgasm, Joe moved his mouth to your clit finally and sucked hard. You whined at the overstimulation. He shifted so his hands were each massaging one of your butt cheeks and your legs were over his shoulders. The new angle made it so he could tongue fuck you like he said he was going to all while rubbing your clit with his nose. Within minutes of Joe working you with his mouth like his life depended on it, a second orgasm was quickly building. Joe chuckled against your clit as your thighs squeezed his head. He rubbed circles against your clit with his tongue while putting two of his fingers back inside you. Your walls quickly tightened and throbbed around them as your second orgasm hit you hard. It left you panting as Joe cuddled into your side. He laughed lightly and kissed your open mouth. 

You swallowed hard as your breath started to slow a little, “If you’re better with your cock than you are with your mouth, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to handle it.”

Joe smiled against your cheek he was kissing, “You’re so tight around my fingers. I can only imagine how great your going to feel around me. I may not last long.”

You kissed him and could slightly taste yourself on his lips, “We can do it a few times. I won’t mind.”

“Line sure gave you enough condoms to make that happen.” You laughed hard at this before he hesitantly asked you, “Can I use one of the glow in the dark ones and watch it disappear into you? I’ve been thinking about that since I saw them. It would be like my dick is a lightsaber.” 

This makes you laugh till tears form in your eyes. “If your dick was a lightsaber, that would kill me.”

Joe huffs, “Could you just pretend with me? I obviously don’t want to kill you.”

“So sorry, baby. It would be exactly like your dick is a lightsaber. I can’t wait.”

“I am choosing to ignore the sarcasm.” 

Joe got up and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. You got up to look for pajamas in your suitcase. You were about to put them on when Joe walked out of the bathroom while brushing his teeth. He reached into his drawer to hand you a shirt of his. You put it on and went into the bathroom to brush your own teeth. You sat on the counter to wait for Joe to finish. He stayed blocking the sink. He grabbed your toothbrush, put toothpaste on it, and held it up to your mouth. He swatted your hand away when you tried taking it from him. He proceeded to brush your teeth for you. It took way too long between you laughing, Joe fake yelling at you to stop laughing which only made you laugh more, and you nearly choking on the toothpaste. 

“I know you’re good at swallowing white stuff, but you aren’t supposed to swallow toothpaste Y/N”

You pulled your mouth away from the brush, “you like it when I swallow.”

“I do, but spit this time” Joe winked at you. You roll your eyes at him but still do what he says. 

He waits in the bathroom for you finish your nighttime routine. He watches you curiously the whole time. When you pull out your moisturizer, you get the idea put some on him. He just closes his eyes peacefully as you softly rub the cream over his face. He opens his eyes slowly after you pull you hand away. “I’m going to wake up looking younger than when you met me now” You giggle and walk back into the bedroom. He quickly catches up and wraps his arms around your waist. He kisses your neck before turning off the lights and crawling in after you. You lay on your back with enough pillows under your head Joe can also put his arm under your neck and not have it be uncomfortable for either of you. He places his other hand on your stomach and puts one leg over yours.

“Joe, were you going to call yourself my boyfriend earlier?”

He kisses your temple then whispers, “yes. Is that okay?”

“Of course, mon cœur.”

“I am  _ really  _ shitty at asking you be my girlfriend.”

You giggle sleepily “You’re good enough with your mouth and tongue, I’m willing to overlook it.”

Joe gasps, “you’re just using me for sex.”

“Trying to.” 

“What if I never put out?”

“Then you’re never getting rid of me.”

“Sounds perfect.” Joe moves so he’s hovering over you, “I would love it if you were my girlfriend again.”

You lift up to kiss him, “Bon. Mon cœur est déjà le tien.”

Joe kisses you, “no idea what you just said. I’m taking it as a yes.”

You caress his face gently, “Close enough, boyfriend.”

Joe moves back to your side and you turn to press your back against his chest. You fall asleep with one of Joe’s arms around your waist and the other under your neck again with your arm stretched out beside it and Joe’s hand holding yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> un petit peu - a little bit  
> mon cœur - my heart  
> Bon. Mon cœur est déjà le tien - Good. My heart is already yours


	19. Chapter 19

In the morning, you wake up before Joe. You are facing each other and he has ahold of one of your hands clutched against his chest. It makes your heart ache for him even though he’s right in front of you. You love that even in unconscious states, you two end up holding hands. You try to slowly extract your hand so you can use the bathroom, but Joe just grips your hand tighter. You whisper his name in case he’s actually awake. You get no response. He has to go to “band” rehearsal so you know his alarm is going off sometime hopefully soon. You decide to wait a little while so you don’t disrupt his sleeping. He looks to peaceful to disturb. After about 15 minutes of laying there, you reach for your phone to take a picture of Joe's adorable sleeping face. You get a good one of him still holding your hand. You text it to Line with the caption “I’m being held hostage”. She sends back a vomiting face. You are taking close up of Joe’s face when you see his eyes open on the screen.

Joe’s voice is rough, “I see your creepiness has increased since high school. How many pictures of me sleeping did you take?”

“This was going to be my third.” 

“Creep”

“You’re the one that’s in love with me.”

Joe smirks, “That’s because I can’t help it.”

You kiss him, “You’re so romantic in the morning” you tell him sarcastically.

He hums, “You’re going to get your socks knocked off with romance tonight. I’m trying to ease you into it.”

You get up to finally use the bathroom. When you come back out, Joe has moved so he is perpendicular to the headboard, legs hanging off the edge and his feet on the ground. His eyes are shut. You really want to go over there, strip off his boxers and lower yourself onto him. But now isn’t the time for that. You decide to get him off with your mouth instead. You tip-toe over to him and kneel, then rub your hands up his thighs. You keep going up to the top of his boxers. You look up at his face to make sure he’s cool with you removing them. He lifts his hips so you pull them down. After you suck him off, he makes grabby hands at you. You crawl up to lay down on top of him. He shakes his head at you and taps his face, “sit here.” He laps at your wetness like a man that’s been lost in the desert after finding an oasis. The room is filled with obscene noises between his mouth and yours. He spanks you when you lean forward to brace yourself. You moan from the added vibrations. After you finish, you collapse on your side next to Joe. He curls up behind you. You can feel his breath on the back of your next when he starts speaking.

“When are you going home for Thanksgiving?”

“I’m not. It’s not really a French holiday. I don’t automatically get off work. I’ll be in Rome.”

Joe is quiet behind you, his arm wrapped around you feels tense. You try to skoot closer to him. He laughs because you’re basically just rubbing your butt against his crotch.

You smile over your shoulder at him, “l should be able to make it home for Christmas though.” He smiles back at you before pressing a kiss to your shoulder. He groans when his alarm finally goes off. 

  
  


You accompany him to band rehearsal at his request. You are sitting on a sofa off to the side watching. Joe is so serious about all his dance moves and making sure he gets all his notes correct. Their coach is watching a video on their phone for reference. Rami, Gwil, and Ben start being goofy and teasing each other. Gwil is mocking Ben for adjusting his drums while Rami takes pictures. Joe is off to the side practicing. Your phone vibrates with a text message

 

_ Ben to Y/N: Joe must be showing off for you. He’s never this well behaved between takes _

 

You look up, make eye contact with Ben and start laughing. Joe notices this. He walks over to you.

“What are you laughing at, baby?” You show him the text message. He turns around and glares at Ben. Rami comes over and sits next to you. 

Rami puts his arm on the back of the couch behind you, “So, Y/N, I heard noises last night and I have questions.” Your eyes widen in embarrassment at what he could have heard.

“Oh god…. what?”

“What was happening that Joe was yelling at you to stop laughing?” You start cracking up. You are so glad that is what he asked about. Joe gets super defensive that nothing sexual was happening at that point. 

Gwil tells Rami, “They were both naked when we showed up.”

Ben adds, “They also made out in front of us.”

Rami snaps his head back to look at you, “You let them watch and didn’t invite me?” He looks offended.

“That is not what was happening! We were clothed when I kissed Joe in front of them in an attempt to get them to leave. They are just sat there and watched. Why do you want to watch?”

Rami shrugs, “I don’t necessarily want to, I just don’t want to be left out.”

You shake your head at him, “Joe was brushing my teeth for me when I was laughing in the bathroom.”

Rami rests his chin on your shoulder and fake whispers, “You weren’t laughing at any situation?” He points at Joe’s crotch while asking this.

Joe protests , “Hey! None of this!” 

You tilt your head towards Rami while looking at Joe, “That is no laughing matter. My friend Line has a term for it. Are you familiar with the story of Goldilocks and the 3 bears?”

Gwil looks up at the ceiling, “Let’s not ruin a children’s story, yeah?” Rami and you both giggle at this. Ben and Joe walk back to the taped off area to make the stage. 

Rami actually whispers to you this time, “I also heard what sounded like spanking this morning.”

You cover your face with your hands, “I’m so sorry Rami. That was Joe’s fault”

Rami has a very mischievous smile, “I’ll buy earplugs this afternoon. You can wreck him tonight.”

 

 

After the boys had band rehearsal, you took your toiletry bag to Lucy’s to get ready for you date with Joe there. She was going to help you do your makeup. It wasn’t really necessary, but she offered and made the night feel more fancy. While you were getting dressed, Lucy stopped you right before you put on your dress. 

“Y/N, go stand in front of the window.”

“I am literally in my underwear and stockings.”

Lucy laughed, “That’s my point. You look fantastic. I want to get a picture of your silhouette in front of the window. You can send it to Joe the next time you’re apart.” You started to walk to the window. She stopped you again, “Put these on.” She held out a pair of her stilettos. 

“Joe is going to pass out when I send him this.”

Lucy’s eyes got even bigger than normal, “Can I tell you when to send it to him? Such as a time when he’s around all of us?” 

“I’ll think about it. I don’t trust the boys not to steal his phone.” You finally put on your dress over the new bustier you bought the previous day. It ended up being a really good purchase since the straps of a regular bra might be visible. Your dress was almost off the shoulders with a slight sweetheart neckline. You were wearing the necklace Joe got you. Half your hair was twisted back so your matching earrings could also be seen. You put your thicker heeled shoes on so you could go back to Joe’s room. Lucy started following you out the door. You paused before knocking on Joe’s door confused why she was still by you.

“I’m coming with you guys.”

“Umm… not to be rude, but why?”

Lucy smirked, “You’ll see.” She knocked on the door before you could.

 

 

Joe, Lucy, and you got out of the taxi at a small public garden. Neither of them would tell you what was up. Joe uncharacteristically shy in the car when you asked where you were going. Joe lead you by the hand into the garden. Lucy was glancing around like she was searching for something specific. She seemed to find what she was looking for. She called for you two to join her and stand in front of some white English roses. Joe was nervously looking at the ground. You leaned down to catch his eyeline.

“Joe, are you alright?”

“I… umm… we don’t have any recent pictures of us. I asked Lucy to take some.” You kissed his cheek, not really knowing why he was nervous about that but went along with it. Lucy position you both how she wanted for a little while then just followed you around to take candids. It was a very weird experience trying to be natural knowing someone was trying to take pictures of you being natural.You kind of forgot what your limbs normally did. Joe started being affectionate towards you and make it a lot easier. He made a comment about wishing he didn’t have a perm for his. You rested your elbows on his shoulders and covered his hair with your hands while he wrapped his arms around your waist with his clasped hands resting on your tailbone. He leaned forward to kiss you. Lucy squealed in delight. She showed you both the picture. The light was a perfect golden color. It looked like it should be an advertisement for some perfume with a love themed name. You already had plans to make it your phone background. Joe was satisfied with the pictures so you all started walking towards the exit of the park. You stopped to take some pictures of a fountain with birds on it. Lucy and Joe were behind  you just out of hearing range because you couldn’t hear what looked like an argument. You approached them hesitantly. They both turned to you and smiled. Lucy kissed you both on the cheek, called Joe a chicken, and left. You raised your eyebrows at Joe.

“Are you hungry?” Asked Joe. He was clearly ignoring your questioning expression. He hailed another taxi and opened the door for you. He was much less fidgety during this car ride. The restaurant he picked was a small, intimate candlelit place with less than 15 tables all against windows facing the Thames. It was right at sunset. About 30 seconds after you were lead to the table, a waiter approached with a bottle of wine. He poured a little bit for you to taste. It was amazing, the perfect mixture of sweet and dry you liked in your white wines. You couldn’t help the huge smile on your face when you looked at Joe after the waiter left you to peruse the menu. He came back after a few minutes with a dozen oysters. 

You tilted your head at Joe, “How did you know I like oysters? The wine is also perfect.”

Joe blushed and licked his lips, “I did research.”

You felt your face turn all soft. “Who did you ask?”

Joe took a sip of his wine, “I asked Line about the wine. Hey! That rhymes.”

You rolled your eyes at him and pointed at the oysters, raising an eyebrow.

“That I just knew about you.” Joe looked smug now. 

“What’s the real answer?”

“Instagram” 

You were really confused now. You couldn’t remember posting a picture of oysters, or any type of food on there. There was a video of you using a machete to cut open a coconut and drink it. You looked at him disbelievingly.

Joe hesitated then said, “More specifically, slight Instagram stalking. Ryan’s wife’s Instagram.”

Now you knew, “The video of me bribing my niece Emma to try one? I knew as soon as she shook her fork it wasn’t going to happen. 5 year olds and wiggly foods aren’t a good combination. Do you actually like them?”

“Never tried them. Will you buy me a toy to try them too?”

You laughed, “No, you’re an adult. When did you do this stalking? That was video was over a year ago.”

“I actually saw it when she posted it. I just remembered it when Gwil was helping me find a place to bring you.” Joe looked proud of himself. You bit your lip thinking of the fact that Joe remembered something about you from so long ago when you guys didn’t even communicate then. 

“Wait, have you ever even met my sister in law Josie?”

“Multiple times. I went to their engagement party. I was invited to the wedding, but was filming. Various holidays we’ve both been home. Why don’t you ever come home?”

Thankfully the waiter interrupted so you could figure out how to answer that. Joe told him you guys were waiting a little bit to order entrees. He had yet to try an oyster and if he didn’t like them, you probably wouldn’t want a whole meal. 

“Joe, you need to try one of these.” You handed him a shell.

“I will when you tell me why you don’t come home.”

You took what could only be described as a gulp of your wine, let out a deep breath, and told him, “I didn’t want to come home in college. It became habit. It’s more expensive to fly on holidays. We’d have celebrations of our own at different times. I have so many frequent flier miles, I’ve flown my family out to meet me places. We started having family vacation rather than buying presents.” Joe must have been satisfied with your answer. When he slurped the oyster off it’s shell, the noise instantly reminded you of noises he made that morning when you were sitting on his face. You brought both hands up to cover the embarrassed expression on your face.

You removed one hand from your face, but left the other covering your eyes, “Please use a fork.”

Joe looked embarrassed, “Was that rude? I thought that’s how you’re supposed to eat them?”

You leaned forward and whispered, “Not that. The noise gave me dirty thoughts.” 

Telling him was a mistake. You should have taken Joe’s usual lack of shame into account before telling him. He was purposefully eating them like he would eat you. It exasperated you and turned you on at the same time. You kicked him under the table when he moaned while licking one. He put the shell down and put one hand on yours on the table. He looked at you softly, “Did you not come home because of me?”

You looked down at the table briefly. “Initially, yes. I thought you hated me and I still loved you. I couldn’t do it the first couple years. After that, it really did become habit for us to make other plans.”

Joe turned your hand over and started rubbing his index finger on your palm. He was watching the action for about half a minute before he spoke. “Do you think if we saw each other then, we would have gotten back together? I always look for you when I’m home. Just in case.”

You took the hand that was caressing yours in both you hands and looked Joe, “I think we should focus the fact that we are together now. Unless you have access to a time machine.”

Joe smirked, “it’s broken.” He brought your hands to his lips and kissed both of them, “Oysters are disgusting, by the way.”

You laughed so loud the table behind Joe turned around to look. “Joe! You ate half of them.”

“Yeah, well I could tell what the noises were doing to you.”

“You do realize you could have just barely touched me and accomplished the same thing? No need to eat something you didn't like.”

Joe’s eyes were glinting mischievously, “I have so many comments this place is too fancy for.”

“That didn’t stop you from going down on your food.”

Joe threw his head back with laughter. The older couple behind him turned around again. Their annoyance at Joe’s amusement made you want to tell Joe to make all the dirty comments he wanted loud enough for them to hear. His laugh was one of your favorite noises. 

After dinner, Joe and you walked arm in arm along the river slowly. You came across some street musicians close to some other restaurants. They were playing a slow slong and some couples were dancing. Before you knew it, Joe had spun you into his arms and you were slow dancing with him. 

You looked up at him, “Did you know they would be here?”

“Nope,” he made the “p” pop. “Just lucked out.” You rested your head on his shoulder as you swayed. He started rubbing his hand slowly up and down your back. 

You pulled back to look at him again, “What’s next?”

“There is a place about a block away that has good ice cream.”

You just wanted to get him into bed right now but didn’t want to say that and ruin any other plans he had, “What if I’m too full for ice cream?”

Joe looked shocked, “you never say no to ice cream!”

“You, mon cœur, are lactose intolerant. We can skip it.” The song was over so you got a few pounds from your purse and put it in the band’s violin case.

Joe pulled you against him again and brought his lips to your ear, “Is there a chance you are just wanting to get me into bed?”

You shrugged, “You’re even harder for me to resist than ice cream.” You pushed up and kissed him. 

Joe got his phone out and text someone. He moved away when you tried to read it. You huffed at that causing him to laugh. He walked towards the street to hail a taxi.

 

 

Once you got in the elevator at the hotel and it was just the two of you, you instantly pounced on him. You kissed him with such fervor it must have surprised Joe. He made a hrumpf noise as your chest hit his. He lifted you so your legs were wrapped around his waist and pressed your back against the wall. Sadly, the elevator got to the floor quickly. When you exited, you quickly pushed Joe to the hallway going away from his room. You just witnessed something you didn’t want to interrupt.

Joe looked really confused, “what the hell was that?”

Your eyes were huge, “Did you not just see Lucy and Rami making out?”

Joe practically yelled, “WHAT?!!” 

You clasped your hand over his mouth, “how long has that been going on?”

He maturely licked your palm causing you to remove your hand from his mouth, “I didn’t know it was!” He thankfully spoke at a quiet volume. You guys slowly peaked around the corner. Lucy had Rami pushed against the wall. 

You whispered to Joe, “Lucy is my hero. I love that girl. She took pictures of me earlier in the lingerie I’m wearing under this dress so I can send them to you at inopportune times.”

Joe looked your body up and down. His pupils were blown with lust. He bit his lip when he reached your eyes. “We need to get in the room, now.” Joe’s voice was deeper than usual. 

When you got in the room, you realized it was lit with candles and there was soft music playing. You were trying to look around to see if there was anything else, but Joe distracted you. He wrapped one hand around the back of your head in your hair and the other around your waist pulling you towards him and locking his eager lips to yours. He walked you backwards towards the bedroom without his lips ever leaving yours. The hand on your back moved up to the top of the zipper. He moved his hand back down, pulling the zipper with it. You stepped back from him and pulled the dress down your shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. This left you standing there in a bustier, garter belt holding up your thigh high stockings, and thong, all in black. Joe whimpered and covered his mouth, “I think I’m gonna pass out.”

You smirk and held up a finger, “Wait, look at the back.” You turned around so he could actually see you were wearing a thong.

He gasped, “It got better.” You giggled when you heard him swallow hard, “You said there are pictures of you in this?” You nodded. Joe walked forward and kissed the sensitive spot below your ear, “Can I take one more?” He lips moved against your neck as he spoke. You nodded. “Could you lay down in the middle of the bed?” You did as he asked. 

As you were positioning yourself you decided you let him in on a secret, “By the way, this is the first time I’ve bought lingerie specifically for a man. I’ve previously just bought it for function not fun. So all this…” you ran your hand down your side gesturing to your ensemble, “is all for you.” Joe’s face was a mixture of pure love and lust as he crawled on top of you. You blocked your mouth before he kissed you. “Take your picture. Once you start kissing me, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.” Joe growled and crawled back off the bed. Joe ended up taking a few different pictures of you. He put a knee on the bed to crawl back on when you reminded him to grab condoms, pointing to your suitcase. He huffed and went to your suitcase. He stopped at the end of the bed, “Is there anything else I’m forgetting or can I ravish you now?”

You bit your lip so you didn’t laugh, “Candles… probably a fire hazard.”

Joe shook his head, “they are fake. Battery operated.”

You hummed and pretended to think, “probably should take off your clothes. Shoes. My shoes.” You laughed as he fumbled with the buckle on your shoe. He did a little dance as he striped off his clothes. He made a face over his shoulder at you like it was a mistake when he exposed his butt to you. “Oops” he was finally naked. You waged your finger at him seductively. He once again crawled over you and was hovering just above you without touching you yet. He put one elbow next to your head resting his weight on it and cupped your face with his other hand, “I love you so much, baby”

“I love you to…” he cut off the end of you sentence with his lips. He was kissing you slowly. He gradually lowered himself till he was fully pressed against you. You just kissed slowly and full of passion at first. It could have been 10 minutes, or a couple hours, you weren’t sure. You were so lost in it. Eventually his mouth moved to your neck and he put a hand behind your back. He was starting to unhook your bustier. You sat up a little to help him out. He was straddling you while he finally got all the hooks undone. He moved his hands to your garter belt, then pulls his lips off your collar bone, “How do I remove this?” You just undid the clasp yourself. You laid down on the bed again and Joe shifted so he could remove your stockings. You extended one leg straight up in the air then the other. While your second leg was up in the air, he held it up and he moved so he was sitting  behind it. He rested your leg against his chest. He brushed his fingers down the length of your inner leg causing goosebumps to emerge. He ran his fingers all the way down to your core and circled your clit a few times before pushing two fingers into you.

He kissed your ankle, “Damn baby, you’re already so wet.”

You moaned his name as he rubbed his thumb against your clit with this fingers slowing pumping in and out, “Joe… I need you...want to cum on your cock.” You could feel his hardness against your thigh. He started to scissor his fingers inside you, earning a breathing moan from you. “Please Joe.” He lowered your leg to his side so he was between them. You opened the condom resting beside your head and rolled it onto Joe’s impressive cock. You wanted to tell him how his perfect length and girth kind of ruined you for other men but when you made eye contact with him you were so over come with the love and adoration in his eyes you couldn’t. You gently put a hand on his cheek and kissed him again. His lips followed yours as you laid down on the bed. He lined himself up, brushing his tip against your slit. He slide into and you both gasped. It felt  otherworldly to be filled up by him. He started kissing you deeply giving you a little bit of time to adjust to him. You rocked your hips to signal to him he could start moving. Your hips moved in perfect sync with Joe’s. His mouth was brushing against yours, not quite kissing, moaning into one another’s mouths. Between breaths he told you, “Its like you were made for me”. He rested his forehead on the pillow next to your head, his thrusts were getting erratic. He slowed his pace slightly and brought his hand to your clit. You were getting close quickly. As Joe felt you getting tighter around him, he moved back to above you and quickened his pace again. He tilted his hips slightly differently causing his pelvic bone to hit you in just the right spot, pushing you over the edge. Your orgasm triggered Joe’s. He gave a few more thrusts as he emptied into the condom. 

He fell to your side and placed a few kisses to your shoulder. You rolled to face him, he kissed your lips instead. After a minute or two, he got up to put the condom in the trash. You went to the bathroom after he did. He was turning off all the fake candles when you came back out. You walked over to your suitcase, rummaged inside of it for a minute finding what you wanted. You had read the instructions on the neon box the other day. You grabbed one from the box and went over to the bedside lamp, turning it on. You held the glow in the dark condom to the light so it could “charge up”. Joe came up behind you to see what you were doing. He quickly caught on. Your hand palming his rehardening dick may have help him realize what you were doing. 

You led him over to the chair, “You know, yesterday when I came back and you were sitting here looking all handsome, all I wanted to do was ride you. May I please do that now?” Joe enthusiastically said yes and sat on the chair. You handed him the condom while you made sure all the lights were off. There was just enough light coming in from the edges of the curtains you could tell he was looking at his glowing penis with amusement. You chuckled as you straddle him. You exchanged the hand he was using to hold himself with your own. You watched the neon green shaft disappear as you lowered yourself onto him. Joe left out an appreciative moan. You lifted yourself off most of the way and then back down a few more times watching the light reappear each time. You told Joe, “I know I kind of poked fun at you the other day for this, but it’s actually pretty hot.” You watched a couple more times before you got too caught up in how good it felt. Joe started grabbing your ass to help your motions. It got grabby and sweaty fast. Joe was sucking on and hold your breast as you grinded into his hips fast. His hips bucked against yours. He started rubbing your clit and brought on your second orgasm of the night quickly. You kept up your pace best you could to finish Joe off. You started kissing his neck and he gripped your hips tightly. You felt him shutter beneath you as another orgasm of your own was building. Joe must have been able to tell because he lifted you off of him and onto the edge of the chair. He kneeled before you attaching his mouth to your clit, and essentially sucked your third orgasm out of you. He got a cool damp washcloth to clean you off. You hissed from the contact due to over-stimulation. You got up on wobbly legs and collapsed face down on the bed. Joe chuckled and curled against you. 

He murmured to you while rubbing your ass, “I’d take you like this if I thought either of us were up to it.” 

You let out a breathy laugh, “Let me sleep an hour or two, then feel free. Just wake me up first.” 

Joe kissed you gently, “Good night, baby, I love you…. Also if I wake up hard, I will probably go for it.” 

“I love you too. Good night.”

You woke up sometime later and could tell it was still the middle of the night. You were still on your stomach and Joe was pressing kisses to your shoulder blade. You hummed and he moved so he was laying with his chest against you back. Both of you were still naked. He cock slipped between your legs, resting against your slit. Joe started kissed the side of your neck up to your jaw. His hands slipped under you and massaged your breast. He pinched one of your hardened nipples at the same time he nipped at your ear. He laughed when you yelped in surprise. He moved one of his hands between your legs to finger you. His long slender fingers quickly found your g-spot. You were a wiggling mess quickly. “Joe… if you want to… this position...grab a condom. He slide off the end of the bed after pressing a kiss to your cheek. 

Joe was standing by your suitcase and called out to you, “Hey Y/N, can I turn on a light?” You agreed and he turned on the light to find you with your bum in the air waiting for him. He sighed and rolled the condom onto himself. He positioned himself behind you. He slide into you quicker than he meant to because you were so wet. “Are you okay?” He leaned against your back and kissed your cheek again.

“I’m good. This feels great. Please go for it.” He started to thrust into you. He increased his pace quickly. You pushed back against him. The slap of his skin against yours was one of the hottest noises you’ve ever heard. The head of his cock was hitting your g-spot with each of his well placed thrusts. He leaned forward again so his chest was against your back. He rested his weight on one forearm and rubbed your clit with his other hand. Your walls tightened around him shortly after he added the additional stimulation. You had your most intense orgasm of the night.  Joe didn’t last too much longer. 

When you both cleaned up, you found yourself falling asleep being spooned by Joe. The last thing you thought before going under was you guys were already holding hands like usual. You felt more at home than you had in a long time.


	20. Chapter 20

Joe wakes up feeling very relaxed and satisfied. He slowly pulls his arm under your head out trying not to wake you. He walks over to the dresser to get our a pair of boxers before showering. Right as he is about to open the drawer he hears you stirring behind him. He turns around and watches you stretch while making high pitched noises. You look at the clock and whimper then lay back down on the pillows. He finds you incredibly adorable when you’re sleepy. Actually all the time, but seeing you pout at the daylight makes him actively think about it. You whine about having not wanting to get up and more so because you have to leave today. You leaving is the last thing Joe wants. He wants nothing more than to have you with him all the time. You stretch again and the covers fall exposing your still bare chest. It immediately grabs Joe’s focus. He is wondering if there is enough time for him for him to actively admire your body again when his train of thought is broken by your snickering.

“Stop thinking dirty thoughts if you aren’t going to follow through, Joe.” You whine again when he tells you there isn’t enough time. He notices something on the ground when he turns around to the dresser again. He picks up a red passport. American ones are blue so he thinks Ben or Gwil must have dropped it somehow. He opens it and sees your picture.

“Y/N, what is this?”

Your eyebrows knit together, “My passport? Can you put it in my suitcase?”

Joe looks at the cover again then back up at you, “This isn’t a US passport.”

You rub your face with your hands, clearly still waking up, “I’m a French citizen. Have been since middle of university. Made a lot of things easier.” You say this with complete nonchalance. Joe feels like you’re slipping away from him again. You aren’t even American anymore. Not fully anyways. He gets a flashback of you telling him you were going to school in France. This feels worse somehow even though he knew you lived there. 

You are still using a casual tone, clearly not picking up on Joe’s turmoil, “I have dual citizenship. I usually travel with my French Passport. It’s easier unless I’m going to visit my family.

Joe instantly notices you don’t say going home. He can’t keep you. You were never really going to be his.He thinks how you were still always going to leave just like the first time. You start rambling about how even now everyone picks up on you being American before you open your mouth. You try speaking French in Italy and vise versa but people respond in English to you. 

Joe’s voice is harsher than he means it to be, “Why even keep your American citizenship? Doesn’t seem like you want it or need it for anything.”

Your brow furrows again as you sit up and make eye contact with him, “You okay, Joe?”

Joe isn’t okay, he isn’t okay at all. All he can think about how much it’s going to hurt when this ends badly again. “We shouldn’t have met up. This was a mistake. I’m going to shower. You can go ahead and leave. It’s pretty much what you do best.” Joe starts to go into the bathroom.

“Joseph! Get back here now” You sound pissed. He’s never really been on the receiving end of your anger. He’s only ever seen you fight with your siblings. You voice is much softer when you speak again, “What’s wrong?”

“You always leave. Just go ahead and do it now. It’s what you are good at.”

You scoff, “I’m almost as good at it as you are at pushing me away. I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong.”

“You have a train to catch.”

You shake your head, “I’ll miss it. There are other trains. This is more important. Please talk to me.”

Joe pressed his head against the cool metal frame of the bathroom door. Joe knew he needed to explain everything. Why he was pushing you away yet again. You were completely right. He did push you away. Since he first met you, he know you were leaving him. The knowledge you’d be gone someday held him back from moving forward with you at every step. He is just fully realizing it now just how much it held him back from you. He first had the thought of wanting to marry you about two weeks into knowing you. He knew his dad had known the first day he met his mom that she was the one. Joe thought he could be right about you. Then he hurt you when you didn't immediately say yes to being with him. Being away from you for those two months was terrible. Each time you and he encountered a new milestone in your relationship he slightly pulled back temporarily. When you first kissed, when you really kissed for the first time, when he took you to get ice cream even though it was snowing out which was your ridiculous idea and you started dancing in excitement taking your first bite and he realized he was in love with you. You were always going to leave. You couldn’t stay with him.

You came up to him and put your hand on his back, resting your head against his shoulder, “Joe. Please?”

Joe whispered towards the door frame, “You’ll get over me. Just go.”

You scoffed at him, “There is no such thing as getting over you. I wouldn’t want that anyways.”

Joe turned his head towards you a little bit. “You were never going to be able to stay with me. We should have only ever been friends.” Joe smiled down at you sadly knowing it didn’t reach his eyes. “I do love you. You know I’ve pictured being married to you since about two weeks into knowing you.”

Your mouth fell open a little bit before you smiled up at him brightly, “then let’s get married.”

Joe was surprised by your response. “What?” You made it sound so simple. 

“Can you look at me right now and say you’ve met someone you’ve wanted to be with more than me? That you’ve pictured marrying anyone else, because I haven’t. I never really got over you and I don’t think you got over me. I think there is no such thing as getting over you because I’m not supposed to. You and I are supposed to be together. We always should have been. This can work out. I may have to physically leave sometimes, but I’ll still be  _ with  _ you.” You placed your hand over Joe’s heart has you said you’d be with him. Joe couldn’t look at you.

Joe mumbled, “I need you to leave.”

You kissed his shoulder, “If you have some tips on how I am supposed to get over you, let me know. I have no idea how to do that.” You move so you are more in front of him. You pushed up and kissed the corner of his mouth. As soon as your lips made contact with his, Joe’s instinct kicked in. He wrapped his arms around you and kissed you back. 

You smiled up at him and used a playful voice, “You still want me to leave?”

Joe closed his eyes and nodded at you.

 

************

You started gathering your things quietly trying your best not to cry. This can’t be over. Joe will realize he still wants to be with you and call in a day or two. He just got spooked for some reason. You’ve talked almost every day since your birthday. You can FaceTime everyday with a little planning. He’ll realize the distance can work. 

When you put your suitcase on the ground to leave the room Joe asks for the key back. A tear finally drops onto your cheek as you hand it back to him. You make it out the door before you completely lose it. You can’t keep walking. You lean against the wall and then slide down it as the tears come harder. You sit silently and cry. After about 15 minutes, you vaguely hear the elevator ding. Ben and Gwil exit dressed like they were just working out. You wipe your eyes and stand back up. They walk up to you enthusiastically. Gwil is closer so you extend your arms to hug him first.

“It was really nice meeting you.” You release him and then turn to hug Ben.

Ben squeezes you tightly, “When will we see you next?”

You look at the ground when he drops his arms, “If you are ever in Paris, give me a call.”

Gwil looks shocked, “What?”

Ben lightly shoves your shoulder, “No! I meant when are you coming back here.”

You fold both lips into you mouth in an attempt to not start crying again. “I don’t think I am invited back. Joe just took his key back.” You sniffled. “So yeah, If you’re ever in Paris…” You started to pull your suitcase down the hall. You didn’t want to start sobbing in front of Joe’s best friends.

Ben called out to you, “Y/N… wait! Let me talk to Joe. He loves you more than anything.” Ben looked between you and Gwil. Gwil just looked sad. “He always has. He told us that. He wants to marry you.”

You stopped, swallowed hard, and turned to fully face Ben. You could barely make him out because your eyes were full of tears again. “If that’s actually true, which I would love, he knows how to find me.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t hate me


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place December 2017  
> Italics are text message
> 
> I meant to say this at the end of the last chapter, but it works here too. I got the title from Sara Barellies’ song No Such Thing. I had started writing this and had a general outline, then the song came out. It seemed very fitting for where I was going with the story. It’s a good, and depressing song. I feel like it’s basically how “You” have been feeling between the last chapter and this one.

You were sitting on the floor in your parent’s living room. You were helping your mom wrap Christmas presents. All your brothers and you were actually going to be at the house for Christmas. You just finished curling a bow when your phone lit up next to you.

 

_ Lucy to YN: Hello love. I hope you are doing well. Will you be home in Paris over New Years? Do you have plans? _

_ YN to Lucy: I will be there! I get back from my parents the 29th. Do you want to stay at my house?  _

_ Lucy to YN: Rami will be with me.  _

_ YN to Lucy: He’s also welcome. There are two extra bedrooms. You can also just use one ;) _

_ Lucy to YN: You are the best! I’ll let you know how many bedrooms we’ll use later.  _

_ Lucy to YN: You’re in New York? Have you heard from him? Does he know you’re there? Have you heard about the job? How many more questions can I ask in one text?  _

_ YN to Lucy: I am in New York, but not the city. I have not heard anything about the job. I think I’m up to 7 unreturned texts and 3 ignored phone calls. I clearly put all my pride away. Unless someone else told him, he doesn’t know I’m here or about the job. I think you can fit in 2 or 3 more questions. ;) _

_ YN to Lucy: Will you be in Paris before the 29th? I can have Madeline let you in if you are. _

_ Lucy to YN: I’ll have better dates tomorrow. Do you want me to tell Joe about either? _

_ YN to Lucy: I’ll have an answer for that tomorrow too. My mom has a present from our family to his family. I may be going over there later. _

_ Lucy to YN: Good luck! Love you! Talk to you tomorrow? _

_ YN to Lucy: Love you too! Thanks! Have a good evening.  _

 

You put your phone down and sighed. You mom looked up from her wrapping at you in concern. You gave her a half smile and grabbed another present to wrap.

You mom sounded incredibly curious, “Who was that?”

“My friend Lucy. She’s going to be in Paris over New Years. Asked if I would be.”

Now she sounded disappointed, “oh. I thought maybe it was a boy.” You quirked your eyebrow up at her and she corrected herself. “I hoped it was Joe.”

You closed your eyes and let your head fall back to rest on the sofa behind you, “yeah. Me too.”

Your mom's voice broke you out of your wallowing. “Shit. One of us needs to leave for the airport. Do you want to go pick up Aiden and Jackson or do you want to take the present next door?”

You opened your eyes. “I don’t have a driver's license. Will you let me drive the car? Is my one from high school upstairs?”

Your mom laughed, “I hate to break it to you honey but you can’t pass for 16 anymore. Just take a couple shots before you go to the Mazzello’s.”

You laughed and shook your head, “Great advice, Mom”

She stood up to go pick up your brothers, “To my knowledge none of the Mazzello children are home.” You raise both eyebrows at her this time. “Oh don’t give me that look. You had to of known I already asked.”

 

**************

 

You were now standing outside Joe’s parents house. You were mentally preparing yourself to knock. You didn’t know if you should bring up Joe or not. You wanted to ask his parents to have him contact you. More of you wanted him to contact you on his own, because he wanted to and not because you involved anyone else. You took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. His mom answered the door and instantly smiled when she saw you. She extended her arms to hug you, “Hi, Y/N. It’s been so long. How are you? You look so grown up and French. Please come in.”

She was always such a great hugger and so friendly. You followed her into the house, “I’m pretty good. How are you? I’m a little excited you said I look French. Everyone in Europe instantly knows I’m American.” She led you up to the kitchen and you placed the present on the counter. “This is from my family for you guys.”

She peeked inside the gift bag, “Do you know why everyone knows you’re from America?”

“I’ve been told it’s my face.” You laughed, “Even a French citizenship can’t change my face I guess.” Joe’s mom looked at the ground when you mentioned the citizenship. You felt a little awkward. This subject came up quicker than you expect and you had only yourself to blame. “I take it Joe told you about … all that” You didn’t know if you could call it a fight.

Joe’s mom look sheepish, “Yes. He FaceTimes us everyday. He stopped mentioning you suddenly. He finally told his dad.”

You hummed in acknowledgement, not trusting your voice to say anything yet. You figured you would start crying. Joe’s mom stepped closer and rubbed your arm very maternally. You smiled at her, “How is everyone else in the family?” She caught you up on everyone else and showed you pictures of all the grandkids. She asked about what you had been up to recently. She had heard some from your parents and apparently Joe, but wanted to hear from you. You ended up going back to your house and getting your iPad so you could show her pictures. After you were there for over an hour, you got a text from your mom asking if you could start dinner. You were about to get up from the table when there was a hand on your forearm stopping you. 

Joe’s mom made eye contact with you, “Joe will be home tomorrow. Do you want me to mention you are home?”

You could feel your eyes instantly get glassy. You decided to be very straight forward, “Yes and no. If he asks, then yes. He hasn’t responded to my attempts to talk to him. I want him to seek me out because he wants to not because he’s told to.”

She smiled at you sympathetically, “I understand. I really want to tell him about your job opportunity.”

You hadn’t told her about that. You scoff and rolled your eyes, “How long ago did my mom tell you about that?”

Her smile changed to a happier one, “I think it was the day you told her about it. She was very excited you might be moving back. There was very little discussion about us sharing a grandchild or two.”

You cover your eyes with a hand, “She is so embarrassing.”

Joe’s mom laughed, “It’s a parent job to be embarrassing. I’ll only tell Joe you are here if it comes up in conversation. Although, I do want to tell him he’s being rude for ignoring you.”

“I appreciate that. I should get home so I can start cooking. Merry Christmas if I don’t see you before that.” You hugged her and went home. On your way out you noticed there was still a photo of Joe and you in the living room amongst other photos.

 

************

 

The next afternoon you were sitting with all of your family members watching a video of your oldest niece, Emma’s, dance recital. The doorbell rang. While your mom got up to answer it, Emma insisted on pausing the video so everyone could watch every second. Your mom had a huge smile and huge eyes when she came back down. Joe was following her. You gulped and sat up straighter, or as straight as you could with a 6 month old on your lap. Joe looked really uncomfortable as he looked at everyone on the couch and gave a little wave. Your sister in law was next to you and elbowed you. You followed her eyeline and noticed every male member of your family was glaring at Joe. You brought a hand to your mouth and bit your first so you didn’t start laughing at the situation. 

Joe made eye contact with you and shifted awkwardly, “May I please talk to you?”

Before you could answer two of your brothers, Ryan and Jackson, said no, and Emma asked, “Who are you?” 

You maintained eye contact with Joe to try and get a read on him, “Emma, this is our neighbor and one of my best friends, Joe.”

She seemed satisfied with that. She turned around to Joe, “Do you want to watch my recital?” 

Joe’s voice quivered when he said okay. He looked around and noticed all the spots on furniture were taken. He sat in the middle of the floor next to Emma. Emma restarted the video. You could tell out of the corner of your eye that Joe was watching you instead of the children dancing. You were also pretty sure your entire family was watching either you or Joe. When the video ended, you stood up and extended a hand to help Joe off the ground. You just want wanted to bask in the warmth of his hand and being able to hold it again, but you dropped it as soon as he was standing. When you got to the bottom of the stairs, Jackson called out to Joe.

“Hey Joe, Have you met my fiance? This is Nathaniel.” Jacks patted Nathaniel’s knee. Joe walked over to shake his hand. You thought they were just being nice until Nathaniel stood up and all 6’5” of him glowered down at Joe when they shook hands. Jacks added, “He’s a UFC fighter.” Aiden fist bumped his twin. 

“Really guys?” You rolled your eyes, “Joe, let’s go upstairs.”

You walked towards your room in silence till Joe broke it right before entering, “Isn’t Jackson getting his doctorate in some science thing?”

You nodded, “neurobiology.”

Joe sounded confused, “what does he talk about with a UFC fighter?”

You laughed under your breath, “I don’t know. Concussions? They met in undergrad. They are really sweet together. Sorry about how they were all acting. They get protective despite me being the oldest.” You closed the door behind Joe.

Joe shrugged, “I wasn’t expecting a warm reception if I saw any of your brothers. All of them at once was a bit intense.” You motioned for him to sit in the desk chair while you sat down on your bed. Joe tugged on the sleeves of his burgundy sweater. You bit your lip waiting for him to talk. He spoke to the ground, “I’m glad you came home.”

You watched him to see if he would look up at you. “Me too.”

Joe started tapping his toes together. “I’m sorry.” Joe barely lifted his head but you could see that his eyes were looking at you now.

You swallowed, “I’m going to need more than that. What are you sorry about?”

Joe lifted his head more and you could see there were tears in his eyes. You sat on your hands so you wouldn’t reach out to comfort him. Not yet anyway. 

“Everything.” Joe paused and pursed his lips. “I saw your French passport and it just brought all my insecurities about us to the surface. I was so scared you’d leave and not come back, so I pushed you away. I’ve always been afraid of that. I forced what I was afraid of happening eventually so it wouldn’t hurt more later. I should have believed you that we could work it out. Being with you feels so natural. I am so sorry I told you to leave. I should have talked to you about it. I should have begged you to stay.” Joe paused and wiped some tears off his face. “I’m also sorry I ignored you. I was ashamed of how I treated you. I didn’t know what to say. If you think you could forgive me, I’d like to try to make it up to you.”

You took a deep breath, “I need you to stop pushing me away.” Joe slightly nodded in response. You looked at him curiously, “did you practice that speech?”

           Joe slightly shrugged, “I thought there was a chance you’d be home for Christmas. I wanted to talk to you in person if I could since I had gone so long without responding to you. I wanted to get what I said right. This is too important to wing it.”

           You patted the spot next to you on the bed.

Joe’s eyes light up, “Yeah?” You nodded. He came and sat next to you. He whispered to you, “can I touch you?” You look up at him and nod again. He wraps arms around your shoulders and held you against his chest. When you wrapped your arms around his waist, he kissed the top of your head. You stayed in his embrace for a couple minutes before you spoke again. 

“I need to talk to you about something but first I need you to promise you won’t push me away again and you’ll actually talk to me instead if something is bothering you. You won’t lose me if you can just talk to me.” You nuzzled into his chest more and he tightened his arms around you. 

Joe cupped the back of you head, holding it in place against his chest. “Baby, I promise. I’ll do whatever you need. I need you in my life. I love you so much. I’ll come live in Paris if you want.” Joe kissed your temple. 

You extracted yourself from his arms and turned to sit sideways on the bed so you could face him. You reached forward and held one of his hands, “I appreciate that but it might not be necessary. Ben had asked me once what I was willing to do to about living in a different country than you. After I last saw you, I talked to my boss about if I could be based out of the states. He told me the company has been considering opening an office in the US for a few years. About 3 months ago the board decided on New York City. I was already on their list of people in consideration to run it. If I don’t get that job, I could transfer. Neither would happen for 6 or more months.”

Joe had tears in his eyes again. You couldn’t tell if they were happy or sad. You scrunched up your face at him and he laughed. “I don’t know if my behavior deserves you moving here for me. How about if you aren’t running the office here, I come move to where you are?”

You smirked, “Oh, it’s not all for you. It’s hard only seeing my nieces through FaceTime. My family wants me back, too.” You wiped a tear that fell off Joe’s cheek. Joe pulled your hand to his mouth and kissed it.

You tapped your lips with the index finger of your other hand. Joe smiled and leaned forward to kiss you gently. A wide grin spread across Joe’s face when he pulled away, “You know, we didn’t technically break up. Neither of us said those words. I was just a terrible boyfriend for the last 7 weeks. If you’re willing to overlook that, we can pretend we didn’t lose more time that we should have been together.”

You rolled your eyes and tried not to smile at the goofy pleading expression on his face. “If you go that long without talking to me again, I’ll get my soon to be brother in law to beat you up.”

Joe laughed, “How about I promise to talk to you everyday? If I don’t, I’ll gladly take the beating.”

You gave in to smiling when Joe cupped your face, “We both travel a lot for work. Everyday may not always work out.”

Joe huffed, “I really am an asshole. I was terrible about you traveling and stuff for work when I do the same thing.”

You shrug, “You’re pretty good in bed, so I’m willing to look past it.” Joe glared at you but you were pretty sure he was trying not to smile. “Actually Joe, I’m just helplessly in love with you. Always have been.”

Joe leaned forward and kissed you again, “I love you too. You were right. I have never loved anyone quite the way I love you. I’ve always pictured you when I think about being married. If you move here, would you want to move in with me?”

You scrunch up your face like you’re thinking really hard about something, “Does it have to be in a pretzel house?”

Joe laughed, “I have an apartment made of bricks and wood, or something else non-edible.”

“I have a brick and mortar apartment in Paris. We COULD split our time if I’m not working in New York or until I am.”

Joe brushes some hair behind your ear, “I’ll come stay with you till you know. 

You smile at him, “You know, Lucy and Rami are coming to stay with me in Paris for New Years Eve.”

Joe stammers, “Together?? When..” He pauses for a second, “I would love to be able to spend New Years with you. We could start the new year how we are supposed to be, together.”

“I’m pretty sure we already are together. No one broke up with anyone.” You smirk at him.

Joe smiles brightly, “Oh yeah?” You nod. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Joe”


	22. Chapter 22

Joe is standing outside on the balcony of your shared apartment in Paris, his hair slightly blowing in the window. It looked like he was in a dramatic music video with the picturesque background. You walk out to join him, wrapping your arms around his waist from behind and resting your head against his shoulder blade. He instantly puts his arms over yours. After about a minute, he turns around in your arms to face you. He hooks a finger under your chin and pulls your face up to kiss you. After a few sweet kisses, Joe cups your face and deepens the kiss. His tongue brushes against yours.

“Why is your mouth cold?”

You smile, “I was eating ice cream.”

Joe chuckles at this, “Baby, it’s 8 am”

You shrug, “It’s the only thing that sounded good. What time is Rami getting here?”

“9 am. Are you done in the bathroom? I should probably shower before he gets here.”

You nod, “Still no Gwil and Ben joining?”

Joe frowns, “Sadly, no. Gwil is doing voice acting stuff and Ben is busy making out with Ryan Reynolds.”

You laugh at Joe who is pouting now, “You don’t sound jealous AT ALL. Are you going to tell Rami alone, or are you going to try and get the others on the phone so you can tell them all together?”

“Haven’t decided yet. I want to wait for you. When do you think you’ll be done at work? You need to be there.”

You rest your head against his chest. “You don’t have to wait for me. I know you won’t be able to hold it in for very long. Especially spending all day alone with Rami. Sorry I couldn’t get my meeting moved. It shouldn’t take me too long to get my office packed up either.”

Joe pulled back from you and looked down at you incredulously, “You literally could not be more involved. I’ll wait for you to get home.” There was vibrating against your thigh that was pressed against Joe’s. You knew it was his cell phone ringing but decided to joke around with him.

“Joseph, mon cœur, I don’t have time for that before work.” He rolled his eyes at you and extracted his phone from his pocket. It was Rami, who was downstairs waiting to be let in. Apparently he made a typo and was arriving at 8, not 9. Joe went downstairs to let him in.

You were gathering your work things in the living room when the boys came in. It felt like an eyelash was poking you in the left eye. You paused while walking over to Rami to try and get it to out of your eye. Rami stopped dead in his tracks.

“Holy shit! You’re engaged! When did that happen?” Rami was pointing at your left hand rubbing your eye with a gigantic smile on his face.

You looked at Joe with an equally large smile, “So we aren’t telling all the boys together.”

Joe laughed, “Guess not.” Rami lunged at Joe to engulf him in a hug. Joe answered his question, “It happened two days ago. We wanted to tell you in person.”

Rami came over to hug you, “It’s about time Joe. It’s only been about 20 years.” You laughed.

Joe scoffed, “Hey! We’ve been busy.”

You released Rami, but kept an arm around his waist and looked over at Joe. “Yeah! Cut him some slack Rami. And it's only been about 17 years.” You winked at Joe. “And he’s only had the ring since October.”

Joe looked flabbergasted, “How do you know that? I hadn’t told you yet.”

You bit your lip, “Lucy. That night we got shit faced.” You put your hand on your stomach, “About three and a half months ago.” You looked at Joe pointedly.

Joe blushed, “Is that why you were so… excited when you got home?”

You smiled and shrugged, “It added to my general love and lust for you.”

Rami looked between you both, “What happened? I’m missing something. Was that the night in New York when you and Lucy went out while Joe and I stayed home? Lucy kept saying she had a secret when she got back.”

You giggled, “Yeah, she told me the secret. She told me how Joe had seen it when he bought me this necklace.” You tapped the necklace you were currently and almost always wore. “She told me how Joe couldn’t stop thinking about it and she made him go back and buy it. I’m impressed she was able to make it so long without telling me. Or you Rami.” You walked over to Joe and put your arm around him instead. You pressed up, kissed him on the cheek, then whispered to him, “Speaking of secrets. You wanna tell him the other one?”

Joe smirked over at Rami, “Wanna know the GREATEST secret ever? It started that night.” Rami squinted at you both and tilted his head. His eyes flicked down to your abdomen then back to your face. You nodded at him. Rami once again lunged at Joe, but this time pulled you both into a hug.

Rami mumbled into Joe’s shoulder, “I call dibs on godfather.”

You glanced at Joe for a second, knowing he wanted Rami anyways, “Only if you can convince Joe that Joseph Francis Mazzello the fourth does NOT work if we have a girl.”    

Rami doubled over with laughter. He stood back up fully and wiped a tear from his face, “I’ll do my best.”

You laughed, “If you could do that today while I’m at work, I’d appreciate it. Have fun and I’ll see you around 2 pm.” You gave Rami a quick hug. You walked over to Joe. He automatically leaned in to kiss you. “Text Ben and Gwil and figure out a time you can FaceTime them. You should probably also figure out how you’re going to tell them godfather’s been claimed.” Rami beamed and Joe laughed.

Joe kissed you again, “ Don’t have too much fun at work. Love you, fiancé.”

“Love you, too!” You went to your last day at work in the Paris office. You were leaving for New York next week.  Madeline was moving into your apartment since Joe and you probably wouldn’t be back for a while. You had a wedding to plan and had heard babies could be time consuming. It took a while, and far too much heartache, but things finally felt perfect with Joe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to anyone that read the whole story to this point!! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.


	23. Chapter 23

This isn’t a chapter really. Just a heads up, I put additional parts up as part of a series to this story. I didn’t know if anyone subscribed to just the story. If anyone liked this story enough to do that, I wanted to give them the heads up there is more. Also, I love you for subscribing.

There is “Ice Cream Revelations” that is written more like a story.

There is also “The In Between Bits”. That will be a couple chapters that take place between Chapter 21 and 22.


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